I will never tire of the Merveille du Jour which lifts the relatively quiet Autumn nights in the moth trap with its genuinely marvellous colours and patterning - so much resembling lichen on which I have seen it successfully hide. My first this year came at the start of the week in a notably green trap which also included the very green Red-green Carpet and the Hawthorn Shieldbug shown in the composite picture above.
Closer inspection of one of my photos revealed another minuscule green arrival - the little aphid next to the RGC above. The following night, another Red-green Carpet joined the earlier one; the picture below shows the colour range within this single species.
It is not surprising that this moth should have inspired cards, paintings and even woollen ponchos as per the one from Virtual Yarns below. Its Linnaean name Griposia aprilina curiously refers to April rather than the moth's flying season from September into the early Winter, perhaps because its colours resemble the early shoots and buds of Spring.
It is a long-standing favourite of mine - the ploy used by Facebook to remind you of past posts 'on this day' obligingly came up this morning with the image below from 2019, a year in which we stood in great need of things to cheer us up.
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