Two thirds through October and the season is still capable of coming up with nice surprises. This first-for-the-year, a handsome Large Wainscot, flew in last night and slumbered in what was a rather damp and unwelcoming trap. It has a beautiful latte colour with an extremely modest helping of chocolate sprinkles, and the great advantage for the ID-challenged like myself of being much larger than all other, often confusingly similar, wainscots.
The species likes reedbeds and we have plenty of those round here, traditionally used for thatch. Penny and I came across a nice example of this on a walk on Sunday - the cricket pavilion at Barton Abbey, whose macabre weather vane was perhaps designed to strike fear into visiting teams.
Other arrivals, shown in order: a Brown-spot Pinion, an immigrant Blair's Shoulder-knot, a Red-line Quaker and a pallid Sallow. All this plus the usual contingent of Black Rustics, Lunar Underwings and ever more-battered Large Yellow Underwings keep the morning pilgrimage to the trap worthwhile.
4 comments:
Ditto species-wise here this morning, with the exception of your Wainscot. However, I'll raise you an MDJ :o)
Hi Martin.
I think I would have guessed Yellow-line Quaker personally for the penultimate moth, but it looks a bit faded so I'm not certain. Nice Blairs' Shoulder Knot which according to Waring,Townsend,Lewington is an established resident now, so may not have flown too far, which would help explain its fine condition. That is an odd weather vane, I would never have noticed!
Hi both and apols for the delay.
Excellent that you got your Merveille, CT. And yes, I think you're right about the Red being a Yellow, Anon. More of the same today (Thurs). The B Shoulder-knot is a very frequent visitor here, so I bet the breeding idea is right.
all warmest
Martin
Yellow-line Quaker Martin, with a red line just for confusion. The yellow line edges the red line and is not always obvious but the prominent black dot on each shoulder is a constant feature.
This dot can sometimes be seen on a Red-line Q but is never as prominent and mostly absent.
Red-line is also noticeably darker.
I agree with the previous comment regarding your Blair's Sh-knot ... Home grown.
Cheers
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