Darren Seaman, Milton Keynes
A Blog for moth recorders in Bucks, Berks and Oxon
Thursday, 17 March 2016
Schalleriana??
Firstly let me apologise for the awful photo, my camera has broken so only option was to use my iPhone. I found this moth sitting on my trap last night, i would be grateful if someone can confirm as Acleris schalleriana. It would be a new species for my garden and for me.
It does have a darkish coastal blotch, but its rather faded. Other than this its been the usual Common Quakers, Clouded Drabs, Hebrew Characters, Small Quakers, March Moth, Oak Beauty and Satellites slowly increasing in numbers.
Darren Seaman, Milton Keynes
Darren Seaman, Milton Keynes
Hi Darren, yes to Acleris schalleriana. I took a copy of your picture and lightened it in Photoshop. Even though the image is sadly lacking in pixels, the markings are clear enough!
ReplyDeleteThanks Dave. Can I also ask how you manage to take such clear pics. What white background do you put them on and what lighting. When I use any extra light it always looks bluish, so I try not to but then get the shadow of the camera. Any suggestions on a decent new camera I could buy would be appreciated too, my old one was a Nikon coolpix p520.
ReplyDeleteI don't go to any great effort, I can assure you, as I'm usually only after a record shot! The pictures are taken on a north-facing windowsill (= natural light but no direct sun) using an old Nikon Coolpix 4500. The moths are usually de-potted onto a sheet of white paper which I can then swivel to get the best angle. If I use the camera flash, which is off-set to the left, then I hold a white LED light to the right otherwise that end of the subject can end up a little too dark. The main difficulty there is running out of hands to press the shutter as well, because the full flash is too harsh so I hold the lid of a plastic pot in front of it to diffuse the light.
ReplyDelete