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| Update to what follows: a couple of hours after posting this, I went down the road to the letterbox and - Lo and behold! - there was this fine Scarlet Tiger all of my very own, sitting on the tarmac in a highly dangerous spot. Maybe its warning colouration had caused drivers to take care... |
The Scarlet Tigers are back round here, wonderful morsels of bright colour which hurl themselves around in the late afternoon, the males that is. They are the commonest moth, equal with the Angle Shades, in photos which friends and neighbours send to me with ID requests. Luckily, I can't really go wrong with this one.The moth has the inky-greenish black also found on that other high profile day-flyer, the Cinnabar, but in an even more shiny and almost petrol-like form. I remember one coming and settling on my camera soon after we moved here - pic left. Lovely creatures.
The two here were both kindly emailed to me yesterday by neighbours, one of them busy running the Olio food distribution at the village hall and the other celebrating her birthday. I assured the latter that receiving a visit from a moth like this on a birthday was a very good omen for the year ahead.
The Scarlet Tiger is one of the UK's many moth success stories; it is gradually extending its range northwards from England's southern counties and I hope that one comes and visits you too soon.
Update: as per my caption to the top picture, I've now had an excellent encounter with a third local Tiger. Here are couple more pics of it, one highlighting the oily sheen of its greeny-black wings and the other showing it hitching a ride on the dinghy in which I have been collecting reeds for the treehouse's thatched roof.
3 comments:
You are so lucky to have Scarlet Tigers, Martin. Haven't seen them around here (west London suburbs) though Jersey Tiger is now fairly common- but a bit early yet for these. Maybe we will get these in due time. Other species like the Jersey Tiger are well established around here such as Tree Lichen Beauty & Gipsy Moth. Brown Hairstreak has also arrived near me in the last couple of years.
Seeing you more recent post we had our first 2 Marbled Whites on a local golf course at the beginning of the week & delighted to find a male Clouded Yellow in the country park down the road- my first local sighting for a few years. I presume a recent arrival. I had already seen a couple of local Painted Ladies.
Hi there! Good to hear from you and I hope that you and yours are well and in good heart. I also hope that Scarlet Tigers come your way - I've been enthusing about them to the grandchildren in east London, under the impression that they might be there. But I must have been thinking of the Jerseys - a fine moth too, and the one so common in the Valley of the 'Butterfkies' on Rhodes. My grandaughter found a Gysoy Moth on their windiw sill last year which was a first for me. Lovely about the butterflies too - cheering in these bad times. All warmest M
Thanks for your good wishes Martin. We're keeping well at present.
Yes, Gypsy Moth is now pretty common around London.
Regards
Neil
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