Tuesday 22 May 2012

May day


Welcome to the first maybug of May; two of them actually, each as daft as the other as they trundled ponderously around the hills and valleys of a Happy Eggs half-dozen box. Aren't they extraordinary? So well-armoured and so oddly patterned. These are the creatures proverbially supposed to live only for one day, a legend often applied indiscriminately to insects, including moths. Most get well beyond that, although it is mildly surprising that they do. They are clumsiness incarnate, with a flight like a demented USAF drone.


A new moth for this year arrived last night too. The Bright-line Brown-eye, with its distinctive dog's tooth markings on the forewing's trailing edge, has been a regular in past summers, so its appearance is another sign that things are getting better. I had to do the weather story for the Guardian today and because there wasn't a lot to say, other than Yippee, it's HOT, I drew on Caroline Aherne's wonderful weather lady on Chanel 9 in The Fast Show. You probably remember; her only word was 'Scorchio.'

2 comments:

Ray Walton said...

Martin (and fellow Bloggers) I am new to this fascinating hobby, and use your postings as a means of educating myself. So it will be some time before I can make a meaningful contribution to the 'science'
Using my recently acquired Moth reference manual, I looked in the index for "Brown-line Bright-eye". The resulting data did not in any way match your suggestion. UNTIL, I noticed my typographical interpretation. Checking the index again for "Bright-line Brown-eye" has, at the very least taught me to check your Blog tomorrow night before opening the Wine.
Cheers
Ray'o (Stokelymort)

MartinWainwright said...

I know just how you feel! I was amazed when I first discovered there was one of each. I commented on it at the time, so didn't repeat myself here. We get them both here, so I'll hope to to show the other B-l B-e before too long. All v best and thanks so much for your careful reading!

Martin