When you have run a light trap for ten years it is easy to get blase about common moths and regular arrivals. But then something about them catches your attention and you re-experience the thrill when you saw them for the first time.
The two Angle Shades, above, are a case in point. This is a very familiar rooster in the eggboxes and one of the commonest moths in requests I get from friends to identify a species they've found at their lighted window or snoozing in the curtains. Yet what a wonderful creature it is! That rakish shape, caused by the very unusual folding of the wings like umbrellas when the moth is at rest, is one of the wonders of the UK moth world.
By chance, I had the opportunity to photograph the Angle Shades in a different position, with its wings outstretched above, and then with its spotted body from underneath, below, as there was a dead specimen in the trap along with the two live ones. Maybe it was the victim of a hornet which was hidden below an eggbox and gave me a sting - extremely small because I whipped my kind away and the hornet was drowsy, but a warning nevertheless.
The trap had some other delightful creatures inside; best of all was a new micro visitor, the Small China-mark, which completes a very attractive family for me.
Here she is - the female has the streaky brown and white forewings while the male goes for a very smart pure white with a single black dot. This distinction also applies in the Ringed China-mark but not in the best of them all, the Beautiful China-mark, shown third below with the final member of the family, the Brown China-mark featuring in my final picture for today.
 |
| Small |
 |
| And again, closer |
 |
| Ringed |
 |
| Beautiful (to put it mildly) |
 |
| and Brown |
No comments:
Post a Comment