Gothick - or Mothick?

 

If I had an award for my most faithful companion from the moth trap, it would undoubtedly go to the Poplar Hawk. These fine if rather Miss Haversham-ish creatures have been visiting almost without pause ever since mid-May There were three the other morning which I posed on a dying rose (a beautiful last stage of this wonderful flower). Gothick, I told the family who were visiting. Mothick, my son replied. 

The Poplar Hawk is a very fine creature in many respects, noted for holding its hindwings forward of the front ones when at rest and for the red warning colouration, flashed in moments of peril and shown below. It really looks quite ominous in a stealth bomber sense from various angles such as the head-on view above.

Other recent visitors include, from top left below: male Orange Swift, Red-legged Shieldbug, female Orange Swift and Lime-speck Pug:

Then a couple of Turnip moths, the hedge-destroying immigrant Box moth, another male Orange Swift, a Small Phoenix and a Common Carpet pretending to be a butterfly:

Then the underwing of one of the white or cream Waves (ID to follow), another Common Carpet, a Light Emerald and the micro European Corn-borer, Ostrinia nubilalis:

Onwards, with a Willow Beauty, another Small Phoenix,  a Sallow Kitten and a White-point:

Next, three pics of a Wainscot whose ID I'm uncertain about and will check; 

Then the bright little micro Pyrausta purpuralis, an example with unusually dull brown in place of the purple sheen which also marks its close relation Pyrausta aurata or the Mint moth which does indeed love mint and is shown in the next three photos:

Nearly there! Here are a Waved Umber, the banana/toffee micro Agapeta hamana, a Double-striped Pug and a shiny Burnished Brass, form juncta:

And finally, one of half-a-dozen hornets which have led me to take great care with the eggboxes. They have a nest just above our bedroom window but are very mild and unaggressive in spite of their formidable size and appearance.

Estonian interlude

We've just had a memorable long weekend in Estonia, courtesy of our good friend Katya who was 18 when she first met Penny on a flight from St Petersburg. Entomological readers of this blog can probably stop here as the brooches above were the only butterflies I saw on the holiday, apart from the little scrap below which may alternatively have been a moth. My iPhone tentatively suggests the Shaded Broad-bar.

What it lacked in lepidoptera however, the weekend made up for in beetles including this splendid Pine Sawyer which was spotted by some German children as it peeped up through a crack in the boardwalk over the Viro forest bog.

Completely harmless to humans, in spite of its size and intimidating appearance, it is a stubborn enemy of pine boardwalks which it eats for breakfast, lunch and tea.  Nearby, we found a leather beetle, out and about from its aestivation or Summer hibernation which is a characteristic of the species.

Other forms of wildlife which entertained us included storks nesting on the traditional chimney wheels, Common Toads in profusion and a forest frog of some kind.

 

The landscape was marvellous and swimming in a bog lagoon - a cleasr 'eyehole' of the deep lake which underlies the surface cruts of bog foliage - and the flooded quarry of an abandoned prison delightful - neither sounds exactly enticing but both were, with marvellous clear and unpolluted water. 

The biting insects can be a bit of a nuisance, but you won't starve in an Estonian forest (and indeed, guerilla bands of freedom fighters survived deep in the woods for years after the end of the Second World War).  Alongside the yellow chanterelle mushrooms, there are thousands and thousands of bilberries, my favourite fruit and one which is hard to find in UK shops, though you can pick them on the Pennines, the Cumbrian fells and in Scotland, especially if you have a handy 'bilberry comb' like the women we met with the purple-stained hand.

The butterflies and moths of Estonia will have to wait for another time.

Singing the Blue

 A prolonged spell of rather ordinary, if worthy, moths came to an abrupt end this morning with the arrival of my Top Moth of All Time, the Clifden Nonpareil.  This is the first to visit me this year and by far the earliest. My previous early bird was last year when the only one to come calling was sleeping in the eggboxes on 29th August. This one is three weeks earlier, and as you can see, it is already a little battered, suggesting that it hatched a few days if not weeks ago.

Why? On account of the weather. Everything is early this year, from moths to blackberries, after the early rains followed by the delicious sunny Summer which, by and large, we have enjoyed so far. Is it climate change? The experts say Yes and I am in no position to challenge them scientifically.

You can read the story of the Clifden Nonpareil in précis here; it was never a moth I expected to see until its current remarkable surge in the UK began in the early and mid-teens of the 20th century. Every year, I hold my breath for its arrival; in 2023, it didn't appear, so to have two subsequent years rewarded makes me happy indeed.  Here are some more pics:

Here it is as I first found it in the moth trap, shy about its glorious hindwings in a manner familiar from the much commoner Red Underwing and the various Yellow Underwing types

A glimpse of its soft grey and pale blue underside, with a tiny ermine micro for scale. The Nonpareil is one of the UK's biggest moths as well as magnificent in every other way

Hello from head-on. And finally, below, disappearing into the safety of a beech hedge to avoid inquisitive birds (though you would have to be a brave bird or bat to tackle something of this size).

My other guests included the micros Agonopterix arenella and Acrobasis advenella below, known in the vernacular which is being so excellently promoted by iRecord among others, as the Brindled Flat-body and the Grey Knot-horn.

Among the macros, the Mouse Moth was a newcomer for the year and there were six marvellously-antenna-ed male Gipsy Moths, a species which is enjoying a bumper season.

Narcissus

Trying to photograph an insect on a window is always tricky in my experience because the focus struggles to centre on the small creature rather than the vast background beyond. That was happening with this unusual wasp until I had the idea of trying to get it from one side. Bingo! And what an interesting, if misleading, image of an insect fascinated like Narcissus in Ancient Greece by its own reflection.

Mind you, it may have been able to detect and be scared or aroused by the reverse image. That happened to us years ago in Leeds when a Goldcrest bird was outraged at its reflection in one of our bedroom windows and raised its crest in furious challenge, cheeping and beating its wings. Of course, its reflection matched it blow for blow and the battle between bird and phantom when on for quite a long time.

The moths are a little run-of-the-mill at the moment but were varied enough to entertain a great-niece, shown examining a Bulrush Wainscot below:

Other arrivals have included the micros Apomyelois bistriatella and Blastobasis adustella below. Interestingly, for those of us who find the Linnaean combination of Latin and Greek tedious, such moths are increasingly also identified on iRecord by vernacular English names, in these cases the Heath Knot-horn and the Furness Dowd. I am trying to find out who is behind this excellent development. I appreciate that international scientists need a common language to avoid confusion but I am not an international scientist.

Both the above were clocked by my tremendously labour-saving Bug ID on my iPhone. I use it with due caution but it has a very high accuracy rate. The little chap below, however, defied its powers and I have no idea what it is. Lots of its kind are coming to the light at the moment.

A much more impressive moth is being sighted by many friends at the moment, the Jersey Tiger which is spreading happily through the UK. The one shown is temporarily living in a friend's shed in Essex - and attracting compnay. Yesterday he saw two. 

The Poplar Hawk moth is still appearing almost nightly in the trap, a terrific run going right back to late May.  But for the first time in quite a while, I have not had a Pine Hawk here. Yet.

The effect of a long season is clear on this very faded Nut-tree Tussock

And here's another member of the Prominent family which has been active lately: the Lesser Swallow Prominent with its racing car lines.

Among the butterflies, the Gatekeeper or Hedge Brown is a huge success story this year. They are everywhere.

And to finish with, here's an American Signal Crayfish in a friend's garden. These are pests and you are not only allowed to fish for them but encouraged to. We must have a go some time.