Down to earth

After my romantic notion yesterday that the moths had recognised P's and my wedding anniversary, reality kicked in this morning. In two ways. The first was a dearth of new arrivals following a change in the weather; it has got colder again and there is even talk of frost.

More strikingly, such moths as were in the trap turned out to be yesterday's visitors, so bereft of get-up-and-go and the chance to make the most of a moth's life that they had simply stayed put. I am a great fan of eggboxes myself, having photographed their many variants cloe-up for many years, but you would have thought that an evening washed with the scent of flowers and blossoming trees would be more appealing.

It was nice, therefore, to find one newcomer: the Green Carpet at the top of the post, a relative of the one I spotted in Weaveley Furze on Monday while releasing my Emperor moth caterpillars. Here too is a useful contrast in Common Swifts; both males, I think, but one plain-coated and the other with a bit of glam.