Frost resistant

After a third night of May frosts, I had low expectations this morning. Indeed, I nearly decided not to light the trap last night, before deciding that even empty eggboxes would be interesting as an indicator of how temperatures affect moth activity.

This morning, the trap's inhabitants were certainly sparse but they included one more newcomer for the year, a very small Common Swift. The females are plainer than the males, a difference widely-shared in the moth world and, I guess, the reverse of the position with regard to humanity. So I think that I am probably right in complimenting her, rather than him, on her fortitude on such a chilly night.

When I spotted her in an eggbox, lying upside down, I wondered if she had succumbed to the frost. But as I took my photographs, she moved her legs and antennae very, very feebly. It takes even the climatically-adjusted Winter Moth some half-an-hour to warm up enough to fly in December and January; so I expect the Common Swift will sleep on for quite a while.

She is one of the UK's most primitive moths, incapable of feeding and accordingly short-lived. Common Swifts have one curious talent, however: they lay their eggs in flight, swooping low over appropriate food plants, like the Dambuster planes in the famous Second World War operation and subsequent film.

Otherwise, the guest list consisted of a White Ermine, its relative the Muslin moth, a Shuttle-shaped Dart and a Heart and Dart. In honour of their determination to get out and about, I am showing them all.