Ultrasonic ace

The wind has veered to East North East turning the weather colder and the moths have sensibly decided to stay at home. After the abundance of Brindled Beauties in the trap last week, there was just one, joined by a lonesome Hebrew Character and this Frosted Green with its bunny 'ears', actually tufts whose purpose may be to do with successful camouflage.

In the warmer temperature of our house, however, Penny the Ace Indoor Moth Spotter has scored again - and above is a rare photograph of both her and her latest find. This is an example of the curious Bee Moth which takes its name from the fact that its caterpillars are often found in bees', wasps' and even hornets' nests where they dine on fragments of the delicate casing, wax, honey and even bee grubs if they find them unguarded. Yuk!

It is a very distinctive moth with its jagged pattern, shown above both with and without flash.  The picture below shows its much more familiar resting position like a little spearhead. The other notable feature of this small creature with which we share our large plant is that when mating, it supplements the common device of pheromone release - usually from the female but in this case from both her and the male - with sending ultrasonic love signals by whirring its wings. They can travel up to half-a-metre.