Long time, no see; an old school pal

This has been a vintage couple of weeks for me, with a third new moth arriving in the continuing, lovely Summer weather. A new moth, that is, since I started running the light trap more than 20 years ago, but actually an old friend from my caterpillar-breeding days as a child.

It is an Oak Eggar, a species which perversely has nothing to do with oak trees; its larval foodplants are the likes of bramble and sallow and, especially in my native Yorkshire, the heather of the moors. That's where we used to find the caterpillars and take them home in a variety of jam-jars with string carrying handles looped round the neck and a paper top Sellotaped in place after holes had been pierced to allow the catties to breathe (and sometimes to escape). There was actually ample air in a jam-jar for many caterpillars over a complete afternoon, but I suppose that our precautions did our little Methodist souls credit.

The caterpillars in due course spun a cocoon whose vague resemblance to a large acorn is often credited with causing the 'oak' part of the name just as 'eggar' is said to derive from its other resemblance, to an egg. Whatever the truth of that, there is no doubt about the richness of the moth's colouring which entranced us as children during the magical process of the adult insect's emergence which we sometimes saw.  The male is a deep and velvety dark brown; the female - as in this case - a sandier colour. She is larger too.

I'll leave her looking at us, and go on to examine the other guests overnight which included three more large moths, the hawks Elephant (another great breeding success in childhood), Poplar and the second largest moth in the UK, Privet. Here are the Privet and Elephant with the Oak Eggar below, plus a couple of tiny ermine micromoths for fortuitous comparison.

Above is the Privet Hawk about to take off - a fine sight. Below we have a Large Yellow Underwing and a Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing, both modestly hiding the reason for their name; then a Poplar Grey beside another ermine and below that, a Tree-lichen Beauty with a Common or Lesser Common Rustic.

Next another Large Yellow Underwing but one with delightful orange-brown colouring - this species is famously varied - and then another fine example of a similar colouring, an Orange Swift.

Common Wainscots continue to be, well, common, but the Cloaked Minor is a less frequent visitor, albeit a regular. Below them, we have a tiny micro which I have yet to ID and then one of the smart new generation of Shuttle-shape Darts which is just emerging.

Next, a Small Mottled Willow with its very micro shape for a moth which is actually a macro and finally a Flame Shoulder (the only moth to have flown into the ear of one of the compilers of the Moth Bible), a Common Wave, a Brimstone and a Dark Umber.  Beautiful moths all! How much I enjoy their visits!