Sunday 30 July 2017

Ear we go


Multiple arrivals of the same type of moth are very common at the moment, notably the over-sized micro Mother of Pearl which regularly numbers over 30 in the trap. These are notably jittery moths, given to resting on the inside of the transparent cowl and fluttering wildly when I trundle up and move it to the table to take out the eggboxes and photograph interesting inmates. This morning, there was a different and much more sleepy example: a score of Flame Shoulder moths, russety insects with tightly furled wings and a stripe and badge like insignia on a military uniform.
This is one of the relatively few moths which prompts a quip from the authors of the Moth Bible (not humourless types but doubtless under the publishers' cosh when it came to space for words). Their original comment 'Comes to light where it flies wildly and has an unfortunate habit of occasionally entering the ear of a moth recorder' has been supplemented in the Third Edition by 'On more than one occasion, this has necessitated a trip to hospital to remove the moth.' Goodness! I am glad to say that all the Flame Shoulders which I have encountered have been asleep, and I have left them that way.



 Other visitors included the Red Twin-spot Carpet above, the battered Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing below with an Iron Prominent,  Marbled Minor and Straw Underwing following that.





Finally, I have included as many of my fingers in the final picture as there are Flame Shoulders in the top one, along with a micro which I think is Cochylis dubitana but in the mini-world I am often wrong.

4 comments:

orchidwallis said...

Hello Martin

I assume that I should continue here rather than send you back. Not a green shield bug, I know those and see plenty of them. Not a forester either. The absolutely distinctive thing apart from the bright light green, was the shape. Every triangle moth photo that I see, has at least a very slight curve along the wings at the long base of the triangle. This moth was absolutely straight; very strange and distinctive.

A foreign visitor is certainly possible. Oh to have had a camera handy! I'll let you know if I ever see another one.

Inge

Martin Wainwright said...

Good luck! If it's new, maybe they will name it after you. I will keep looking meanwhile and will email Dave Wilton, the great guru of Upper Thames Moths, to see if he has any thoughts

all warm wishes

M

orchidwallis said...

Hello again

Thanks

Inge

Martin Wainwright said...

Hi Inge

Dave has now kindly replied as follows:

Interesting, but I'm afraid I don't have an answer. As you know, there aren't that many green moths to choose from in the UK and nothing really fits the bill in resting to form a perfect triangle. It would really need more information (photo, time of year) to get any further. There are more green moths on the other side of the Channel and the Isle of Wight is an excellent spot to find migrants, but I still can't find anything that comes close to the description.

Keep the camera handy!

all warm wishes

Martin