Seafood cocktail

Only one moth this morning for a change, but it's a new one for me: the mini little micro Lozotaeniodes formosana. Its sonorous name is a contrast to its thumbnail size, as happens with many of the UK micros.

Pink is an appealing colour to many people, notable both my grandchildren, girl and boy, though I suspect the latter is largely imitating his older sister, as in nearly all else. To me the moth's outfit has the added attraction of conjuring up the seafood section at the supermarket, where delicious nibbles come in various shades of pink.

Formosana was first found in the UK in Surrey in 1945 and has since made itself at home to the extent that its status is now 'Common'. Its caterpillars favour Scots Pine so we must have one of those in the vicinity, though if so I have yet to discover where it is.

There were plenty of other moths in the trap including a couple also on the pink part of the spectrum, the ever-reliable Elephant Hawk. But none seemed specially worthy of mention, an increasingly frequent state of affairs after six years of light-trapping here.