Saturday 16 June 2012

A scientist writes...



I woke up in the middle of the night last night, which had one good result. Like one of the ancient Greek philosophers, I was able to make an observation and from it, a logical deduction. It wasn't quite on a par with discovering the hypotenuse or the essence of a good life but I can tell you this for definite: moths do fly in the rain.



In the last post, I speculated about this. But at 2.30am I saw it for certain. For about five minutes, I watched from a bedroom window as the rain pattered down on the trap and at least five moths at various intervals skittered around.  I have to make an early start this morning so am temporarily putting up the pictures without identifying all of them. But you can see at the top, the first yellow underwing of 2012, a Large YU, and I think that the second one is a Dun-bar. Update: see Comments for the excellent and wise Ben Sale's help.



They say it will be dryer and warmer next week, but that is a forecast and not a fact.

Do you like my new doorhandle scale? Penny does. It's also a handy place to perch an eggbox in full light.

3 comments:

Bennyboymothman said...

Funny that some of my biggest and unusual catches have been taken in the rain! aslong as it stays mild and still.
YUoir second moth is an Ingrailed Clay, hugely variable and always a pleasure to see.
Keep up the brave trapping, the weather has been awful and speaking to many fellow moth'ers they all agree that this is the worst start to a moth year in 30 years.
Things can only get better!

MartinWainwright said...

Hi Ben - thanks very much. I was hoping that you'd ride to the rescue. Much appreciated.

you'll see from the next post that I'm out of action - not for long, I hope. But possibly cos of the ancient mismatch between electricity and rain...

All v best and yes, it's a very sluggish year

M

Elizabeth J. Neal said...

It wasn't quite on a par with discovering the hypotenuse or the essence of a good life but I can tell you this for definite: moths do fly in the rain. feng shui master