The grandchildren put in an appearance at the weekend so the hands which often provide a backdrop to my moth pictures are younger and fresher than usual. I'm relieved nonetheless to see that even at such a tender age, they have a few wrinkles. Well, lines anyway. Sadly, I have never mastered the art of reading them.
The first one, above, is playing host to a Pebble Prominent, a nicely distinctive member of a fine family. This example is showing more hindwing than usual because it was getting a bit fed up and wanting to take off. It duly did, spiralling away erratically towards our telegraph pole to much applause. Luckily our robins were elsewhere.
Next up is a Muslin moth showing the yellow knee-breeches which add a discreet flash of colour to its otherwise austere colouring. This has been much the most numerous visitor in the trap in the last couple of weeks. This one played dead convincingly which gave us the chance to photograph its tummy, below. It's very welcome when you have time - and the patience - to photograph the moths from unusual angles because of the unexpected details often revealed.
A final piece of skin, my own I think, appears in this picture of a Brindled Beauty which kipped overnight alongside a new species for the year, a Shuttle-shape Dart with the neat reason for its name clearly showing on its folded forewing in the second picture below. It went in for a little playing-dead too.
When we were getting various garden games out of our shed, we rescued this female Orange Tip which was beating its wings against the windows while the resident spiders watched in anticipation. It was useful to explain to the children that the absence of any orange denoted a female which lacks the gaudy tips of the male but shares their exquisite grey-green patterning on her underwing.
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