Orange blaze

Oh what a lovely moth the Frosted Orange is! And its annual appearance heralds the way for the various yellow and orange Sallows which are a feature of late Summer and early Autumn. I'm glad to say that its well-camouflaged sleeping place was not spotted by my inquisitive Robin - whose famous redbreast has something in common with the colours of the moth.

 

Good to have a Dark Spectacle in the trap too. They seldom visit although I get so many of the ordinary Spectacle that I may have overlooked its less common cousin. I like the fact that both species have a pair of rather Italianate 'moustaches' as well as their eponymous spectacles which are best seen from head-on as in the very first picture I published on this blog, back on 11 June 2008.  As you can see, below, I was quick to acknowledge the difficulties with ID which I knew I would face.

The third source of pleasure in the trap was a trio of Old Ladies - shabby-looking creatures even when in good condition but satisfyingly BIG. To be accurate, one of them was just outside the lid on the leaf of a nearby Romneya poppy. They all woke up surprisingly quickly for large moths and high-tailed off.

Lastly for today, a modest but nicely-coloured and patterned member of the brown and grey hordes: a Square-spot Rustic.  I think.  Update: Nope. Many thanks to Stewart in Comments who expertly spies the two small black dots which make this a Small Square-spot.  I wasn't so far adrift but...