Mmmmmm.....

On Tuesday I was jealous of my American friends Sarah, Greg and family and their Luna moth. Today my envy is closer to home, with this picture from Kay Easton, a neighbour just up the hill here. She kindly sent me this picture of a visitor to her garden - very kindly, as work is still stopping me from trapping at the mo.

I spent ages taking pictures of these in Paxos last year and reproduce my famous (to me) 'miracle' photo of one below with its Heavenly sunbeam. But they're everywhere in the Greek Islands and altogether much rarer here. The last time I saw one in the UK was in Manorbier, near Tenby, when I was ten.

They do keep coming, though. I've been checking my ancient record books and the lists for Yorkshire compiled by George Porritt between 1883 and 1922 record instances from Barnsley to York, while describing the moth as 'very uncertain in appearance' apart from a scorching annus mirabilis in 1865. The excellent journal Atropos meanwhile shows that 27 were trapped at Spurn Point last year, one of the ring of coastal monitoring stations which I described in the Observer article the other day. Check out Atropos' great website, with its 'Live Flight Arrivals' icon - for moths not EasyJet planes.

Hoping Kay's lovely moth comes my way - though not to the trap. It's another of the daytime flyers.