Earliest hawk

Happy May Day one and all!  Hope you are enjoying the election campaign and the sunny weather, not necessarily in that order. I find the debates very interesting and there was a cracker from Leeds last night. Mind you, we the People, have a modern version of Morton's Fork: demanding definite pledges from politicians but then criticising them (a) for evasion if they don't promise such-and-such or (b) calling them untrustworthy if they bow to our pressure and make promises which events later force them to break. Terrible system, democracy, but as Churchill said, better than all the others.

Rant over. To business. Only three moths in the trap after another nippy night, but the top one sets a new record, albeit only by one day. It's my earliest-ever hawk moth, a Poplar Hawk. Last year three arrived on the night of 1/2 May but prior to that (between 2008 and 2012 in Leeds), their advent was never earlier than the 20s of May or the first week in June.

They are very fine moths, guaranteed to interest those new to the subject and famous among those familiar with it for the distinctive way they hold their wings in reverse order when at rest - front to back, back to front. They are very common, yet how many people never see them; and how many of those fall for media stories about there being no more moths, wildflowers, bees etc?

The other new arrival for the year was the Muslin Moth shown here on my sadly pudgy fingers. Would that I wasn't so fond of pies and ice cream. The trio was completed by that sleek, current regular, a Swallow Prominent.