Floodgates open

Suddenly, Boom! The soaring temperatures have brought an army of moths including my first, lovely Scarlet Tiger of 2026. This is the scrap of red jinking around your garden with the bright colours of a butterfly but the unmistakeably jerky and madcap flight of a moth. No leisurely fluttering-by here, as you will know if you have visited the mis-named 'Valley of the Butterflies' in Rhodes where Scarlet Tiger moths swarm.

The colours are an effective warning for birds which have never in my experience pounced on a Scarlet Tiger prematurely leaving the safety of the eggboxes during my inspections. Here below is the moth as I found it, next to a little micro, before our posing sessions above. The oily sheen of the black background to the top of the forewings is another delightful feature.

There were so many other visitors this morning and here they are; apologies for sticking largely to IDs in an effort to cope.  A pleasant dilemma to face after a quiet start to this season.

Rustic Shoulder-knot

The famous Peppered Moth; first of the year. Melanic ones, which used to dominate in the days of industrial pollution, are much scarcer now

Orange Footman - though rather a pallid one

Oak Hook-tip with those very distinctive wings

Common Rustic

Light Brocade

Monopis crocicapitella - a minute scrap of a micro

An Alder Moth I think - I'll return to this after a double-check

The good old Buff-tip, a twig? Or a cigar butt?

And another old faithful, the former immigrant but now resident Silver Y, one of the first moths I ever saw as, like the Scarlet Tiger, they also fly by day.

The Dainty Grass Rivulet, which safely fluttered away to safety immediately after this photo was taken.

Small Seraphim - what a lovely name!

Pyrausta purpuralis micro - much more purple and gold when fresh

Burnished Brass; another favourite which always brightens the trap

Common Carpet pretending to be a butterfly

And now more sensibly, as a moth

Sandy Carpet; such a delicate moth

Elephant Hawk; all the grand old staples are coming at once!

Common Marbled Carpet; common but distinguished-looking

Green Tortrix micro

And a different view of an Orange Footman

Tachystola acroxantha micro

The good old 'Pinocchio moth' - the Snout

Flame Carpet; another nice one from this very varied tribe

Mottled Pug

Large Yellow Underwing; an early arrival and the year's first to show up here. There will be many more in due course.

Heart and Dart - one of the earliest visitors to the trap more than 20 years ago

Clouded Silver; delicious

Angle Shades; a striking moth often found resting by day; or at least more often than most moths which admittedly isn't saying much

The Orange Footman again

Poplar Grey

Light Emerald; their delicate green quickly fades

Boo! The good old Eyed Hawk

An interesting duo: a Clouded-bordered Brindle and its aberration f. combusta

And finally the /bird-droppig moth', the Lime-speck Pug.  One of the few pugs I can unhesitatingly identify

 Phew!  Now I will go and lie down...