Computer moth

This is the time of year when moths in the UK are most visible to the world at large. Porch lights or even the softer glow from the hatch of a friend's narrowboat down the road bring them fluttering. Plenty of people have reported to me seeing the bright red flicker of a Cinnabar flying by day.

I had my own experience last night when, catching up on yesterday's moth-stacked post, I noted a small blemish on the screen. Blemish? It was actually a lovely little Twenty-plume micro whose skeletal appearance was clearly shown by the bright light behind.

Here it is again closer, creeping over the picture of the Green Silver Lines from yesterday's post. Meanwhile, the trap was much quieter last night, probably because I put it in a shady nook, but it did yield my first intact Light Emerald. You may recall that I found a bird-murdered one earlier in the week.

Amazing how much is written on eggboxes these days!  Be that as it may, this Willow Beauty preferred to rest away from all the text inside a cone. Update: Apologies, it's a Mottled Beauty. Many thanks to Paul in Comments, and Ray. And the Straw Dot below spurned the trap altogether and perched on a bramble leaf.

PS: Although I am cross with robins at the moment because of their vigilance around the trap - and the shed, where I found one yesterday, looking in vain for moths - I like birds. And we have a lot of them. Here's one of the m,any, almost tame mallards snoozing with her brood on the canal towpath, undisturbed even by my wobbly bicycle's bell.