Two by two

The moth season is really under way now, and the trap was like Noah's Ark this morning. Two Poplar Hawks, two Burnished Brass, two Buff Arches. There were Three Green Arches too, a Dark Arches and the first of the yellow underwings which will crowd in from now on. They are the aces at creeping right down inside the egg cones. The metallic scales of the Burnished Brass are lovely; if the moth is sleepy, as these were, you can twist their leaf around and watch the reflected light glint and fade. I also had this year's first Snouth moth this morning with its long upturned palps, but unlike these dozy pairs, it was wide awake and scooted away. That's an old rocket stick the Poplar Hawks are on, in case you were wondering.