While we were admiring the excellent caterpillars of Suffolk, the grandchildren got in touch from Walthamstow with entomological news of their own. "What is this moth, Grandpa?" they inquired in a message attached to the picture above.
I enlarged it as best I could and that was efficient enough to show - left - that it was a Jersey Tiger, a lovely bright creature which has long since expanded from its Channel Islands base and is now often seen in southern England, notably London. The sighting rang a bell and, sure enough, I found that exactly a year ago, I wrote in a post here: 'The grandchildren's garden in Walthamstow gave me a lovely sighting, but no photo, of a Jersey Tiger, an immigrant moth making excellent progress in southern England.' When I can find time, I must do some more comparisons between years; certainly, the occasional chances I get to look back and see what has come on a particular date in previous seasons, sow a consistent pattern.
The warm sunshine has meanwhile brought out the butterflies during the day and two of them, a Comma and fine new Peacock showed an interest in the moth trap:
There were lots of brown butterflies wafting about in the garden too, including this skipper - Small, I think - and a very nice Hedge Brown which had the good manners to open its wings and sunbathe, rather than clasping them tightly over its back as these types of butterfly often do.
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