I would be a poor scientist because novelty is the main excitement that I draw from my moths. Nothing gets my heart beating faster than the sight of something different or unusual among the eggboxes. A Darwin or a Newton would buckle down instead to counting how many Yellow Underwings there are and ultimately draw important conclusions from that. Alas, not me.
So here is my morsel of joy for today: although it isn't uncommon, I haven't seen a Bramble-shoot Moth in the trap before. Thanks to the Penny Wainwright Pencil Scale (using a special London Olympics pencil), you can see that it's a micro. I don't think I'm ever going to go overboard about these little creatures because they are very little; but close-up, their patterns are lovely. You can click on the pic to make it bigger.
Here's another: Acleris forsskaleana with its lovely golden patterning, perching outside the trap but not inclined to flit away. its caterpillars spin little homes in rolled leaves of maple trees, of which we have a couple. We also have millions of brambles, so I take it that these two fellow-residents are happy.
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