Better late than never

A recessional sense of doom surrounds the moth trap as November approaches. But hold! There are still lovely creatures flitting around. Look at these, for example: a vintage night when all I was expecting was Carpets and Caddis Flies.

This is Blair's Shoulder Knot, one of no fewer than three British moths named after a doctor who lived in the Isle of Wight in the mid-twentieth century and trapped new, immigrant species as they ventured over from the continent. That most excellent of MPs, Madeleine Moon, who is essentially the member for moths, has used its name on several occasions in the House of Commons to attract the attention of our former Prime Minister, Tony Blair. It has nice front legs, don't you think, cosseted in long johns.

And look at this! A glorious surprise (although I am worried that my camera is on its way out and the beguiling blueish tinge may be a sign of that. This is a Frosted Orange, and it made me very happy this morning. It likes 'disturbed weedy places' and there are plenty of those here.

There's more. Here is a Feathered Thorn, probably a male because they are tempted to light whereas the females are more cautious.

It settled in its Happy Egg box next to a comatose fly and this little micro which - Update - Dave Shenton has kindly identified in the comments as Epiphyas postvittana. Many thanks! And look! I have found out how to type in colour. This could become a new blog feature... 

Here is a Caddis Fly, smaller and more lustrous than the larger one featured in a post last week

And a Red-line Quaker alongside a Common Quaker (I think...) No - Update - Wise Dave Shenton confirms in the comments that it is a Brick moth.

And finally a snail and - Third Update - Stokelymort brilliantly clocks this as a Brown-lipped Banded Snail in the blog's first ever snail identification;  see comments. Meanwhile in the background you can see a Spruce Carpet slumbering on the light fitting.