A modest bunch of beauties

A pretty moth with a pretty name graced the trap this morning, the Maiden's Blush. Unfortunately it lived up to that name by scooting off as soon as I upturned the eggbox under which it was hiding. So no picture, sorry. I hope it returns.

There was plenty of compensation in a very well-populated trap, though, completely different from the meagre turnout yesterday, after a warmer night. A different position may have helped as well; instead of lawn, the trap was surrounded by night-scented stock which we've triumphantly grown from seed.

The star of the show was the Red Underwing shown above and just below, a large and mighty moth famously spotted by Penny some years ago on a matching pub umbrella at Radcot Bridge on the Thames. We also had one in Leeds, not in the trap but in our greenhouse; it is a species known for being about by day as well as by night, although usually at rest rather than on the wing.

Underwings are notoriously reluctant to show their colours and I'm sorry not to have persuaded this one to flaunt more (I goaded it so much that eventually it flew off, high up into a walnut tree. A handsome Copper Underwing was even more reluctant to co-operate, though it provided me with the unusual image below, which I may enter for Kidlington Flower Show's art class under the title Copper Whirr.

Pre-whirr. This is about as revealing as a Copper Underwing will be