Thursday 24 March 2011

Quaker meeting


It suddenly went warm this week and after only intermittent trapping since last October, I decided to turn the light on, just in case anything was about.

Goodness...102 moths.

I've been a bit dozy; checking the Moth Bible (Waring, Townsend and Lewington), I see that plenty of species are likely to have been on the wing since early March. And so it certainly proved.




The ones which settled here are mostly Common Quakers, like this cosy pair getting together on the left. You can see the reason for the name in their modest and unshowy colours, but the patterning is delicate and fine. There's also a lovely Pale Brindled Beauty, above at the top with another Common Quaker in my strangely beautiful blue eggbox, and also below.



A couple of other, more distinctive arrivals in the final picture for today: a Twin-spotted Quaker, a little more daring than the others, like those kids at school who made ingenious if very small adjustments to their uniforms; and a Satellite, with that wonderfully specific white mark and its two tiny attendants. Hence the name.

2 comments:

Bennyboymothman said...

A good haul of moths Martin, well done! yes I see you have been lying dormant for awhile, it is indeed time to stir, but just as quick as we get all excited about moths again, the weather looks likely to turn cold again for the weekend here.

Anonymous said...

Hi there! Great to have you keeping an eye, what with my record for getting identification completely up the spout.

I'm not too sad about the weather forecast as I've trapped three nights in a row now and got a little bit tired of Common Quakers...

But I'm just about to feature an extremely yummy Herald

Warmest wishes

M