Catching up

This is a catch-up after a spell of busy days and uncertain weather, plus having my head deep in the Micro-moth Bible. My researches there will all have to be confirmed by the kindly experts on the Upper Thames Moths blog but for now I am suggesting that the tiny scrap above - about as small as UK micros go - is Batia lunaris.

Next in line and at the other end of the micro size range, as you can see by comparison with the neighbouring Shoulder-striped Wainscot macro, I have down as a male Ringed China-mark, Parapoynx stratiotata (the female gets a different, brown background), and I'll be disappointed if the bright and distinctive arrival below isn't Pammene aurana.

I can definitely do my fourth micro, the curious Twenty-plume, Alucita hexadactyla, which is better named scientifically as it actually has six (the 'hex' bit) ribs or 'plumes' in each of its four wings. Count them up and the total comes to 24.

But then we get on to debatable territory with this veneer-like moth. I can only mutter 'Eudonia?' and turn to UTM for aid.

The world of macro moths has been busy as ever at this time of year, with lots of Scarlet Tigers about in the daytime when the sunshines. I cannot resist showing them off, especially the one which clung for ages to my leg, just above my socks (it was shorts weather that day).

Here is a pot pourri - from top left clockwise: Ingrailed Clay (I think, but definitely one of the annoying brown things - and Update: thanks to Edward, it's an Uncertain, my first of the year. An excellent name, along with the Confused, which I've also had here and failed to recognise), Common or Lesser Common Rustic, Marbled Minor, Buff Tip tummy, Cinnabar and Gold Triangle micro aka Hypsopygia costalis.

And finally, here are some of the beetles which visit in great numbers at the moment and one of my favourites, the Spectacle, in classic why-it-got-its-name pose.