Oooh we've got some glories this morning! I feel overwhelmed and dangerously close to gush mode. Penny had to wait quite a long time for her bacon and tomato, so busy was I with the eggboxes, camera and treasures such as the Light Emerald, above. (She'd cooked it btw and in fact this morning she also made our early morning tea because I overslept, like a moth in the trap). This is the first emerald here in 2011 and I've also seen my first Large Yellow Underwing. I may feel a bit hectic now, but when the days of 100-plus assorted yellow underwings arrive, which is clearly going to be soon, then quiet mornings with a few dainty species will be a thing of the past.
Look at this Common Swift, too, (above,with a shadowy Scalloped Hazel in the neighbouring eggbox). What delicate and beautiful colouring. Penny was just looking at some pictures of Forester moths at breakfast time, over my shoulder as I tried to distinguish between Common and Gold Swifts, and remarking on the two-tone (green and silvery grey) similarity to Empire-line dresses in a famous film or TV version of Jane Austen. I am sure that dress designers are aware of moth patterns and colourings, as well as birds'. Actually, Moth would be an excellent name for a fashion house.
And here is the Burnished Brass, on its own and (below) with a Lime Hawk which called for the night along with a Poplar one. Respect! Common and always sure to arrive in June, the BB joins yesterday's Peach Blossom in my Top Ten. Later on today, I am going to curl up with Prof Ford and his chapter on scale colouring in the famous Moths in Collins' New Naturalist series. I once had lunch with Prof Ford at the Travellers' Club; a witty old bachelor, his books are sans pareil (Butterflies in the NN series is the other one; he was down-to-earth when it came to titles). Incidentally, I'm delighted to see that the excellent covers of the books remain the same as the ones I got as a school prize in 1963 when I was nobbut 13.
5 comments:
Brilliant shots of your morning harvest.
Not so sure that any garment manufacturer would want to be associated with moths, as the first thing springing to mind would be the clothes' moth :-)
You're right about designers using the patterns of birds, butterflies and occasionally moths for their inspiration. I've done it myself.
Have you? How interesting. I just checked out your EXCELLENT Mostly Macro - if there's a favourite example of a moth-inspired design you're willing to share, I'd love to post about it here.
Warm wishes
Martin
PS Jo - I tried to leave this comment - plus identifying your Buff Tip moth - on your blog but when I clicked on Comment, it wouldn't link. I tried your Click Here thing too but it didn't make any difference. So hope you get this at some point. All warm wishes M
That lime hawk looks like something out of Apocalypse Now. It makes me want to be nine again and hankering after Airfix kits.
It's so true, SB. It's the nearest UK moths come to that camouflage pattern we used to pain on the wings. I remember Duck Egg Blue too, on the underwings of the weird-looking Walrus seaplane. All v best M
Post a Comment