I am a sucker for larger moths and it was a treat to find one in the trap this morning, a battered but still energetic Red Underwing. This moth has a history with Penny and myself going back years; on one memorable occasion she spotted one snoozing by the Thames under a pub umbrella whose colouring exactly matched the moth’s.
Today’s had a modestly exciting future in store as we were due to visit friends near Maidenhead and I wanted to take them an interesting moth. I therefore handled this one with extra caution, only waking it - partly to check in case it was a Clifden Nonpareil - when it was in the granddaughter’s specimen jar.
On arrival at our friends, it posed contentedly for a while and then headed off powerfully towards their roof, its flying unaffected by the battering which life has given its wings. Perhaps it will start a local family but I fear that it may be a little on the elderly side. Anyway, let’s hope that it enjoys Oxfordshire.
The trap has not been short of interest so far as more ordinarily-sized moths are concerned; last night’s guests included this nice Large Wainscot, above. The stylish Angle Shades below is enjoying a boom with six in the egg boxes and two variants of the Common Marbled Carpet obligingly posed so that you can see the difference.
Other pleasures include the strongly marked Willow Beauty, a Cypress Carpet with its sharply defined lines, a Satellite whose wing marks so closely resemble one of the sets of invading aliens in Space Invaders and a little Acleris kochiella micro.
Finally Penny noticed this unusual concentration of slug or snail slime on the patio and found two small mushrooms, apparently nibbled. But no slugs or snails. Perhaps they were poisoned and slithered off to expire.
No comments:
Post a Comment