Punctuation class

                                  

Although my first six butterfly sightings of the year have all been Brimstones, the species is seeing serious competition for its traditional first place from the Comma. I have had a string of reports of these from other parts of Oxfordshire, over in Bristol and a cousin in Ripon, whose actual first butterfly sighting of 2025 was a Comma, the first time that this has happened in her garden. 

No mystery about the Comma's name...

My own example spent ages sunning itself here on the genuinely warm afternoon of Sunday 9th March but the weather has sadly got notably colder since then and I have seen no further butterflies at all. 

The moth trap has had its first mass arrival though, about 15 Hebrew Characters with their distinctive markings shaped like the Hebrew letter ‘nun’. This was supposedly affixed to the moth by God after it had the temerity to engage him in conversation, which apparently moths are not supposed to do. 

Keeping company with a Clouded Drab

Hebrew Character on Runcible spoon

Maybe it’s like meeting the monarch, something which happened to me a few times in my working life. I had to wait until she said something to me. That done, we had a couple of cosy chats. 

My other moths in the last week have been the Clouded Drab shown above, the T-shaped Common Plume below and finally  a Small Quaker. All common and to be expected but quite a nice variety in chilly times.

Oh, and I found this poor little relic of last year's trapping. What it is, or was, I am afraid I do not know.