August visitors

I mistakenly suggested the other day that a Balsam Carpet was a Red Twin-spot Carpet, though I did at least correct myself before anyone else was quick enough to do so. As if to rub the point home, two Red Twinspot Carpets flew in last night, flaunting the very obvious twin spots which give them their name. And which are completely absent from the Balsam.

Another moth I've turned a blind eye to recently is the Straw Underwing, although I don't altogether blame myself since they come in a confusingly wide range of background colours. The one above, for instance, pictured alongside a Setaceous Hebrew Character, is almost a capuccino compared to the darker brown which is closer to the norm. Here's what I mean in the next picture: the top moth is a more standard Straw Underwing, hanging out with a Common or Lesser Common Rustic, left, and a nice, bright Small Square-spot, I think.  Oh, and part of a Willow Beauty, bottom left.

I've mentioned before that I handle the eggboxes with care at the moment and the need for that continues. Every morning, there are at least five wasps in the eggboxes and most days for the past fortnight, there has been a hornet. Eek!

Meanwhile the trap is not the only place where moths are to be found. This Silver Y, below, made its way into our living room and took a fancy to a painting of Bowfell and the Crinkle Crags in the Lake District.

Now for some other early August arrivals: a Rustic, I think, a Chequered Fruit-tree Tortrix micro (aka Pandemis corylana) spotting light at the end of a tunnel, a Common or Lesser Common Rustic, the pretty little micro Pyrausta aurata, and three different Silver-ground Carpets, one pretending to be a butterfly.