Livening up

 

The Nut-tree Tussock is a neat and nicely-patterned moth with cappuccino colours and a distinctive shape. I had one in the trap's eggboxes and a second one, above, on a nearby fencepost where it was obvious to the human eye but fortunately not to birds. I was glad to see it and to have quite an interesting catch for April because the student I mentioned in two posts was coming to inspect proceedings and borrow the trap for a few days.

When he arrived, we cajoled the Tussock out of its sleep and watched it go through several minutes of warming-up, showing its TV receptor antennae in the process - a feature only of the male, which as in the case of most moth species, is much more likely to come to light than the female. I assume that this is because they are out and about on predictable business while the females stay at home, preserving their energy for the males' return.

What I thought was a pug, one of my least favourite species for ID purposes, turned out to be pretty little Twenty-plume moth - which I see is now sometimes renamed the Many-plumed, a better choice because as I have often remarked, it has six plumes, or sections, on each wing as the second, Greek part of its scientific name says - Alucita hexadactyla.  Six doesn't sound as good, however, and 24-plume is a bit over-precise, perhaps, so I am not really complaining.

A couple of excellent odd-shapes followed, the Pale Prominent above and the Common Plume below, the first a striking example of leaf-debris camouflage and second with the T-shape common to all plumes except the Twenty one.

It was also good to have a Satellite  with its highly distinctive markings, so similar to the little alien spacecraft in the old handheld computer game Space Invaders. Below that is another very well-marked micro and one dear to my heart because my record of it in 2015 was the first in Oxfordshire. It's Elachista apicipunctella and you can read more about it here.

Finally, a handsome Early Grey enabled me to make my usual quip about tea - one of my tips for a happy life is to mix two teaspooonfuls of Earl Grey with two of any ordinary tealeaves when you make a pot - or swap teabags if you're out in a café.  It makes for an extremely nice brew.