Brainbox

A markedly colder night meant a less busy trap with only about 60 moths in place of yesterday's scarlet bonanaza. That is not to decry the quieter beauty of some of our overnighters, and even the commonplace species have the power to make you pause and reconsider their charms.

The brainy-looking character at the top, for example, is only a Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing of the creamy type, but his or her bulging forehead is a feature of some magnificence. The Angle Shades, below, also never fails to impress with its jetplane outline. Seen from the side, it combines this rakish trim with the haircut of a singer from the Eddie Cochran era (his death in Chippenham was one of the biggest stories my old paper the Bath & Wilts Evening Chronicle ever had to cover).

For the rest, I always like the Rosy Rustic, and each of the others below deserves a click on the pic and a closer look. But I've got rather a busy day which I'll discuss in more detail tomorrow, so for now I'm just putting up the photos and ID-ing later. Unless some kind soul beats me to it in Comments... Update: and Ben has. They are a Small Square-spot and three Flounced Rustics (with slight but interesting colour variations which are not just the result of different camera angles and light). Many thanks as ever, B.

And lastly a Large Yellow Underwing, a species whose vast numbers in Leeds used to drive me to distraction. Nationally, there have been a lot of reports of the species doing much less well than usual, but the trap gets a steady presence here. Quite enough for me, anyway.