It's Saturday and I am writing this in bed at this disgracefully late hour, with Penny, my cup of tea and Messrs Waring, Townsend & Lewington comfortably to hand. But enough of me. This is about moths. Last night I unrolled the cable to its maximum extent, which must be some 80 yards, and trapped in a bit of shady undergrowth below silver birch trees. The main result was this mass of small flies (What are they? Does anyone know? Click on pic for full horror), plus some larger ones including a fine-looking green beast, a bumble bee and two wasps. Moths were far fewer than in the open area near flowers where I normally operate. But there were a few: carpets and waves which fluttered off, and this pair.
Following Norman's advice yesterday, I think that the top one is a Small Clouded Brindle. It looks more like a Common Rustic or Lesser Common Rustic to my hopeless eye, but their flight season doesn't really start until July and this moth is already rather worn.
I was hoping that the other one was an Uncertain, which I rank mentally as one of a trio of moths who could be characters in a crime drama, the others being the Suspected and the Confused. But Penny thinks it's a Mottled Rustic after looking at WT&L closely and I fear that she is right. As they used to say in Blind Date, the decision is yours.
PS Note the photographic debut of the trap's electric cable connector.
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