Something new

It is getting rarer and rarer for me to find something new in the moth trap, but that happened yesterday morning. It's always a nice surprise and this time a little more surprising than on previous occasions because the moth is actually classified as common throughout the UK and even 'often abundant'.

It's the Tawny-barred Angle, a comprehensive and accurate description of its colouring and wing shape - the latter similar only to the three Peacock moths. I wonder why it has never called on me before; or perhaps it has and I have overlooked it. Or it may have been one of the small cloud of delicate, fluttery moths which always escape on light Summer mornings when I take the bulbholder out of the trap.

I almost missed this one. As you can see in the first picture above left, it hadn't actually gone into the trap but was perched - in dire peril of bird strike - at the top of one of the rainshield's struts. Luckily it was too dozy to be alarmed by my looming presence. Indeed it obligingly transferred to a plastic box for a different photo and a very brief spell in captivity before I worked out what it was.

Elsewhere in the eggboxes, things were as busy as ever at this time of the year, although none of the other visitors were of special interest. But they included the beautifully coloured, plump August Thorn (I think; the various Thorns are notoriously confusing) above, and an unusual view of the Pale Prominent below. The moth's usual resting position is shown in my final pic.