Pollenfilla

I briefly mentioned yesterday that moths had the very unusual distinction of appearing on the Radio 4 Today's programme's main news bulletin and, even more surprisingly, of being taken seriously.

As you can see from the written version of the report, above, they could not resist the hoary old opening about moths being generally seen as destroyers of clothes. There is some truth in this, in that a common reaction from people told for the first time about my moth interest, is to drag out the clothes moth thing. But it is getting less frequent as people learn more; and this will surely help.

The use of 'secret role' is very journalistic too. Pollination by moths has been known about for more or less ever; check out, inter many alia, the American website below.  But the scientists have made some interesting findings about the transfer of pollen clinging to the insects' legs or fur. And, potentially importantly in our hard-headed world, they have found evidence suggesting that moths play a part in the pollination of commercial crops.

There's more detail the on Butterfly Conservation website. It makes interesting and encouraging reading.

Meanwhile, the frost has put me off using the light trap and my photographic data today is modest. Penny and I were intrigued by this bee in a nearby, sandy field and the way that it seemed uninterested in taking wing. We looked it up back at home and discovered that it is an Ashy Mining Bee, a solitary species which digs a little burrow and, rather endearingly, seals up the entrance when it starts to rain.