Brightening September

Still no return of the Hummingbird Hawk moth, as I make my way through the garden's weeds, but here's a nice Small Tortoiseshell to add to my autumn collection of butterfly colour. Unlike yesterday's Painted Lady, it was in very good condition, suggesting that the weather is still warm enough for hatching to go on.

Here it is from a distance on our hawthorn hedge, basking in the late afternoon sunshine which was genuinely warm, and then, below, a little closer. Small Tortoiseshells are nervy and extremely powerful flyers, jittering about amid long and muscular swoops, almost like a Scarlet Tiger or Large Yellow Underwing.

The moth trap meanwhile continues to serve up an interesting selection: a much less orange Large Ranunculus than the glorious one which came earlier in the week; a sinister Black Rustic showing its petticoat, a couple of custardy Sallows - Barred above and plain Sallow below -  a Lunar Underwing and a Depp-brown Dart, the last the unfortunate winner of this morning's Most Boring award.

And finally that elegant but nasty piece or work, an ichneumon wasp, a creature which likes to lay its eggs in live caterpillars. Yuk!