Blue moths are my ultimate favourite but there are hardly any of them in the UK so I am happy to give the palm to green ones most of the time. This little fellow, half the size of my thumbnail, is abundant at the moment: the Green Oak Tortrix micro-moth.
Here he or she is from underneath, courtesy of the moth trap's transparent cowl and below from the side, followed by the top in a slightly different light. There were a dozen at least in the trap the night before last.
My other moths this week so far have been out and about: a White Plume hiding modestly behind a leaf below, followed by a Mint Moth micro nectaring at three different flowers in the grandchildren's garden.
It's been a good week for butterfly walks too; the Marbled Whites have arrived in force on the unploughed grass strips of our local 'Big Field' and I clocked a Large Skipper and a Small Heath on our Sunday visit to Homefield Wood.
Meanwhile, in the hedges and young trees round the edge of the Big Field, I found an unusually patient Beautiful Demoiselle damsel fly and a stubby Four-spotted Chaser dragonfly.
And on the wall outside our back door late at night, behold a Carabus Ground Beetle. I wondered if the name, derived form the Latin for 'crab' because of the shell, had anything to do with the title given to the young master of Puss-in-Boots, the Marquess of Carabas. Sadly I can find none although the Googling took me to all manner of websites about French carriages and fictional lands.
Finally we have a proud mother of eight on the canal, below, and Penny and I were touched to see on an evening stroll how she turns herself into a house for her family overnight. Yes, all eight ducklings are under those cosy wings.
No comments:
Post a Comment