Through an arch, darkly

Yet another moth I've long wanted to see turned up last night, in spite of the rain and a large assembly of the small, browny-grey type of species which try my patience. The latter almost caused me to miss it, or rather to overlook it after a brief glance which initially registered it as one of a trio of Peppered Moths, a very regular caller.

Luckily I looked again. And I had to look again at my Moth Bible after initially checking out the 'kitten' range of smaller relatives of the grand Puss Moth, and the Leopard, a much more spotty creature which came to the trap last week. Turning more pages brought me to the Black Arches and that is what this is; a very fine and distinctive relative to the much more common Dark and Green Arches (although the latter is a beautifully-patterned moth too).

The Bible credits the Black Arches with pink stripes on its abdomen, so after breakfast I may go and see if I can find it again in the bush where I hid it from hungry birds. I didn't try to photograph its tummy first time round, though I did with the next moth, the Ruby Tiger.

I posted a picture of the first of these to arrive this year just a couple of days ago, and you may have wondered why it has such a grand name. The moth I showed was indoors, squeezed into our bowl of pistachio nuts and looking more russet-brown than ruby; also far from tigerish.

This morning there were three in the trap and I hope these pictures explain the name more convincingly.

Finally, a few other glimpses from the very over-crowded eggboxes - at least 250 moths of some 60 types.

When shall we three meet again? A trio of Grey or Dark Daggers - you need intimate examination beyond my powers to tell the difference

A Beautiful Golden Y, I think

And the Silver Y - this one sitting up and paying attention

Finally, a Copper Underwing or Svensson's Copper Underwing which spent the night in our bedroom. Again, only experts can tell the two apart.