Time travel

I positioned the trap in the veg patch last night and it seemed to enjoyed itself travelling back in time. For the first time in a fortnight there were Large Yellow Underwings plus a Barred Sallow and a very fresh Common Marbled Carpet (top picture), a very pretty moth which usually starts petering out in early October.

The first visitor I saw was the Nut Bud moth micro, Epinotia tenerana (at least that's what I think it is), which fluttered from the trap when I lifted the canopy and sought refuge in an artichoke plant. Coffee-coloured, it resembles specifically a Flat White, with those little swirls on the leading edge of its wing reminiscent of the patterns in the coffee's froth.

I asked on the unfailingly helpful Upper Thames Moths blog about the next, battered but still functional moth. A Wainscot, I thought, but Dave Wilton suggests a Setaceous Hebrew Character. These are notably sturdy and long-lived and I think that he is right.

I also expressed my frustration and bafflement about the next four moths - I'm rather proud of my composite presentation of them - which are members of the irritatingly similar Epirrita family of four species.

In spite of their different patterns and colouring, these are probably all male November moths but distinguishing them from the Pale November, the Autumnal and Small Autumnal is too expert a job for me.  You can see the problem, below, on the relevant page in the Moth Bible.  But thanks to Dave's fellow-expert on UTM, Peter Hall, I can at lerast tell you that they are male. The females of the species do not come to light.