Sunspot

Here's a burst of sunshine from the moth world in honour of the exceptional weather which is making life so particularly excellent just now.

It's a Canary-shouldered Thorn, an exceptionally well-named insect since its canary-coloured shoulders strike you as soon as you see them in the eggboxes - a moment of unalloyed joy.

The picture immediately above is of another of the Thorns - named for their caterpillars' eating plants - the Early Thorn. I could get into all sorts of linguistic twists about this as it is one of the late brood of the species which started hatching a week ago. A Late Early Thorn, in other words, in its characteristic and unusual resting pose with its wings held tightly together above its body more in the manner of a butterfly than a moth.

I'm also very pleased with this little creature, the first Least Carpet to pay a call on us. You can see how small it is, I hope, by looking at the texture of its eggbox perch.

Finally, I think that this unusual chap among the plentiful Common Footmen may be a male Four-spotted Footman (only the female has the spots) which would be another first here, if so. I will give it an outing on Upper Thames Moths whose experts will undoubtedly know.