Fun in the sun

 

Our first sunflower of the year coincided with the first visit of a Magpie Moth - probably the only visit judging by previous years when it has contented itself with just one night's stay. It has a lovely magpie pattern with a little added gold which made the sunflower an excellent spot for a photo session.

The colour mix appears to have an element of op-art or dazzle camouflage combined with a lassic warning palette, the latter with good reason. The species' caterpillars eat plants such as gooseberry, ragwort and various sorts of currant which make them poisonous to birds. There are witnessed cases of spiders catching Magpie moths but then ignoring them after sensing the toxins in time.

Another striking overnighter this week was this Gypsy Moth, a species which has prospered in the UK in recent years, not to everyone's satisfaction. Its caterpillars are as hungry as the ones in the famous children's book but differ in that, instead of a wonderfully varied diet, they home in on trees, defoliating and ultimately weakening or even killing them.

As a moth enthusiast, I am swayed in the opposite direction by the insect's impressive size and fine if sober patternins and colours. You can measure it roughly below by comparing it with the nearby Common Footman.

Or with my dressing gown, below, to which it took a liking after getting bored with the sunflower.

The eggboxes also contained the very fresh and handsome Coronet in my next picture as well as the Garden Pebble micro, Evergestis forficalis, which follows. 

Finally here are two non-moth overnighters: a Roesel's Bush Cricket with its amazing jumping legs and a hornet, menacing but as placid as a lamb.