Why are there so many yellow underwings? Although it rained last night, there were well over 150 in the trap this morning. They must feed something; indeed I know several blackbirds which enjoy them occasionally when I fail to hide them well enough after checking the catch. The different types - Large, Broad-bordered etc - far outnumbered the score or so of Dunbars, Beautiful Golden Ys et al which were slumbering beside them.
There was also this lovely little 'yellow overwing', or rather yellow and orange. I think that it's one of the Tortrix micro moths. You can see how small it is by the size of the Yorkshire Post's type, and I've blown up part of the pic further to show you another pair of palps (see two posts below). If you click on it to make it even bigger, it looks like an elongated version of one of those sinister sheep or cattle skulls you sometimes find when out walking.
It's my younger son's birthday today, hooray. I've been trying to find a birthday moth or an Oliver moth but so far have only discovered a YouTube clip online which shows a cat called Oliver having a fight with a moth. Reminds me of a family trip to Nimes where they told us that the Roman provincial administration was so strapped for cash that fights in the amphitheatre were sometimes between sheep, ducks, bees etc.
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