Wednesday 8 October 2014

Brain gym


I was hoping to round off my Death's Head Hawk moth ecstasy by winning a bundle on the 3.50pm at Brighton where the field included a racehorse called Hawk Moth which was tipped on Radio 4's Today programme. Alas it proved to be a non-runner on the day, a shame because our household has a resident betting expert in Penny.

Her form dates back to when she was small girl with flu and got to reading the racing pages in the paper when confined to bed. After a few days she reckoned she'd spotted a surefire winner and begged her Mum to put a few pounds on it. The request was denied, properly because gambling is a terrible thing to get into; but also sadly, because the horse romped home.

The moth trap has been low-key too with cold nights and rather a lot of rain. Still, I'm hoping to put it out tonight as things have got noticeably warmer and, fingers crossed, it will stay dry. All I can offer you for now is this Shuttle-shape Dart which was resting with its wings in a more relaxed posture than the usual 'Stand at Attention' position.


In the meanwhile, it's been a long time since the blog had a competition, so here's one to crack your brains. When Martin Townsend showed me the under-printing of the words 'Common Swift' beneath Richard Lewington's lovely picture of a Death's Head Hawk in the Moth Bible of which they are co-authors, he added: "There's another mistake in the first edition too, and amazingly it's on the cover."

Here's the cover, below.  Can you see the error?  I have looked at it thousands of times since Penny gave me this invaluable book in 2005 with the accurate inscription: "If it isn't in here, it doesn't exist." But I had never spotted the glitch.

4 comments:

Ray Walton said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ray Walton said...

The illlustrations Martin are the hidden key.

Great posts, as always

Ray

Anonymous said...

Can't see the error myself...

Clifdon NP turned up here last night. I was too excited to sleep afterwards! Pics will be on blog later :o)

Martin Wainwright said...

Hi both - and well spotted Ray! I will reveal all in my blog post today - Saturday. A final clue for anyone reading this might be: "Was the proof checker Welsh..?"

Completely brilliant about the Nonpareil, CT. I am as green as a Merveille du Jour with envy!

All warm wishes

M