Fur-coated Finale

I always think of the December Moth as the last of my annual regular guests, although I still have the Sprawler due, a moth named after the habits of its caterpillar rather than a gent in a London club, dozing in an armchair over his glass of port.

The December Moth is perhaps better-suited to such metaphors, with its rich fur coat in chocolately colours; a welcome change from the governess greys of the November and Autumnal family who form the vast majority of arrivals at present and will continue to do so in the coming weeks. 

There is still a little colour around, including Merveille du Jours such as the one below with its enemy the Robin perched on the garden roller behind. I have mentioned previously the slightly brown tinge which I have seen in some of this year's Merveilles and that continues as they age and fade, as shown in the examples in the second photo below:

The one on the left is the Brownie; not strikingly different from the standard form on the right but enough for me to notice. Here are some close -ups of the standard form on the top row and the Brownie below. Note that the black and white fringe which marks most freshly-emerged moths and butterflies has completely worn away in the later specimens.

The occasional Silver Y calls in too, a moth which I have known longer than any other, first seen as a child on Summer brmble flowers near our home in Leeds. Ditto the odd Green-brindled Crescent, another reason to stay cheerful as the weather gets colder and wetter, thanks to its metallic green wing scales.

Can a fly be beautiful? I dislike the buzzing, irritating things as much as most people, but this one's golden circles really struck me when I saw it in the trap. It's a Noonday Fly which starts life as a solitary egg in a fresh cowpat - the adult lays just one per pat - where the maggot lives on smaller dungeaters like an underworld character in a novel by Emile Zola. 

While we're on such creatures, here is a late, sleepy wasp, always a sting hazard if I am clumsy with the eggboxes, and an ichneumon fly which has the horrible habit of injecting its egg into other insects such as moths and using them as a living larder for its family.  The Noonday Fly in my picture above is being approached in a menacing fashion by another one.

I'll end up with another example of moths in culture, a printing plate from the Royal Worcester museum which we enjoyed visiting last month, a Lacewing having a rest and finally one of the most unfortunate forms of life in terms of a name in the UK: the Dog's Vomit Slime Mould, known as Witches' Butter in Finland, Holland and some other parts of the Continent. Suitable for Hallowe'en...