Whiskers

The Longhorn family of micro-moths are blessed, or cursed, with unfeasibly long antennae which always make me smile when I see them waving around in the trap. They are tiny creatures which makes the size of the antennae even more striking. Apparently some species especially enjoying dancing in the air in sunlight, a hobby where their antennae may come in useful to avoid collisions. One of the 20-odd species found in the UK, Nemophora degeerelia, has the longest antennae of any British moth including giants such as the Privet Hawk.

I think that this one is Adela reaumurella, perhaps named after a 19th century heroine with the same name as Miss Cuthbert, the adoptive mother of Anne of Green Gables, but I will check with Upper Thames Moths. Meanwhile my next picture shows the idiosyncrasies of digital cameras as they helpfully hunt around for maximum light.  This is the same moth photographed from two different angles, a Willow Beauty if I am correct and in very good condition.

Here is another one, below, followed by a couple of composites because so many moths are winging in at the moment.

A pair of pairs: two Silver Ys at the top, the second one considerably smaller than the first, and two Buff Ermines, a moth with immensely variable combinations of creamy background and black spots.

A Poplar Grey with its distinctive 'eyes', a Something I Don't Recognise (Update - with many thanks to Stewart in Comments, it's a Rustic Shoulder-knot which I should know by now but probably never will), a Small Square-spot and a Light Brocade

My first Peppered Moth of the year meanwhile arrived, the salt-and-pepper version which has largely replaced the darker, melanic form which was dominant in the days of industrial pollution - the famous instance of camouflage aiding the survival of the fittest.

And here, to conclude for now, is a nice fat beetle with - I think - baby beetles clinging to its head (please correct me if I am wrong; it has made its getaway) and a cosy pairing of another Buff Ermine and a Poplar Hawk, the latter one of six in this morning's trap.