An unintentional experiment last night: a trap with no egg boxes for the moths to shelter inside. We got back very late from Gatwick and I forgot that I had dumped the previous, and very tatty, stash of them because they had got wet when I forgot to put the trap away and it rained. In the dark I didn't notice that any incoming moths were just going to have to settle down inside a bare, black plastic bowl - except for these two Dun-bars (No! See Comment from Benny riding to my aid again; they are actually the much rarer Angle-striped Sallow, Yo!), which nicely prove the way that the insects look instinctively for some sort of shelter - in this case the wire from the mercury vapour bulb to a mysterious electrical thing it needs called the choke.
The other moth I've pictured is a Lychnis, a newcomer this year. Alas, I haven't worked out how to adjust the camera to the refection from the black plastic of the bowl and when I tried to tempt the moth to a more photogenic setting, it flew furiously away.
4 comments:
Martin your two Moths at the top are infact Angle-striped Sallow, virtually unheard of round my parts.
Oh goodness - that sounds good. I'll just go an look at my book..hang on. Ah, I rejected this because it is down as an immigrant and nationally scarec. But reading on, I see that it's more likely to be found here in the North than elsewhere. Anyway, as ever, thanks very much. I've had them quite a lot in the trap recently and just thought they were Dun-bars. I will send the record off to Jax W of Yorks butterflies. Warmest thanks as ever. One day I will learn...
PS B - do you know what the dead wouldbe Dick Whittington/London moth is in the post below?
What a bit a of luck,two great Moths.
John.
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