A merry month of moths

 

  Hello after too long a time - indeed exactly a month. May has been a pleasantly mothy time but I seem to have been kept busy elsewhere. I'm also conscious that most of my moths are now coming round for the tenth season since we moved from Leeds, so I'm likely to post here less often while diligently sending details of catches to iRecord.

I will include curiosities, though, and my first picture is one such. Is it a sea-lion or a walrus? No. It's a head-on view of that perky moth the Chocolate-tip. The second picture is another odd perspective; a Scorched Wing - one of my favourites for its dazzle camouflage - hoicking up its tail and sexual organs in a clear attempt to ensure the survival of the species. The following picture shows the moth in its usual, more respectable pose, snoozing on the trap's bulbholder alongside a Poplar Grey.

A trio of ermine moths next: the Quakerish grey Muslin, the familiar and lovely White Ermine in its House of Lords attire and the Buff Ermine whose patterns of black dots and dashes often differ while the delicious creamy background colour remains standard.

Elsewhere in the insect - and arachnid - world, my family have been zealous at drawing my attention to other beasts. Here is one of the grandchildren with a caterpillar which we have yet to identify - suggestions warmly appreciated - an American ladybird doing a runner from Penny on our computer keyboard by crawling on to the Escape key, a spearmint-coloured spider which crept out of my younger sister's sweater and smart red Cardinal Beetle on our raspberries. Following them, a creature which I announced on Instagram as my 'Birthday Bee' but which a well-informed reader told me is actually a Narcissus-bulb Fly.  Well I never! What an excellently precise name. 

And yes, it was my birthday on 18 May which one of my daughters-in-law brilliantly marked with this highly appropriate cake, below. I have long considered the Fondant Fancy to be one of the UK's greatest gifts to world cuisine but I've never been given one this big.  In the meanwhile, we've also celebrated the Queen's Platinum Jubilee with a patriotic tricolour photo from a Nature ramble and my Very Big Walk went swimmingly and is close to raising £3000 - there's still time to chip in (for Maggie's Centres) if you're passing and feeling generous.   The pic shows P and myself Yorkshire Dancing over the 26-mile finishing line.

The walk criss-crossed the Downs above the river Thames between Moulsford, Blewbury and Streatley and there was much to see when not puffing along, including this mole - the ground was like iron so I hope that it found a diggable spot - and clumps of the lovely Chalk Milkwort which is pretty uncommon generally but abundant on much chalky upland. 

 

I'll leave you for now with another of my favourite moths, the brightly-coloured Elephant Hawk which might have stepped from a rosé-drinker's happy dreams.  I'll get up early tomorrow and finish the May story with a whole lot more moths.