A slightly milder night on the 22nd allowed for some mothing. It's been quiet lately due to the weather, but as I write this it looks that we're in for some good evening temperatures and only slight breezes. Autumn keeps dropping a few of it's moths in my trap - this evening it was the turn of Blair's Shoulder-knot and Red-green Carpet to grace my egg boxes! The Red-green didn't want to hang around for a decent portrait, so I apologise (but not much!) for the terrible pot-shot.
Blair's has this uncanny ability (like quite a few moths do) of 'playing dead'. This one however, did actually fool me for a while. After tipping onto it's front and then giving it a bit of a prod they usually give themselves away, but this one refused and as it had been in the fridge for the day I thought 'oops, that's broken it!'. In my thirst for curiosity I gently tried to open it wings to see what it looked like underneath....but he didn't like this intrusion and woke up with a start giving me a small heart attack!! Very funny! As you can see by the second photo...no harm done.
The 24th was a much better night, with warmer temperatures, completely still and not much in the way of rain. The results were 36 moths of 22 species (not a bad haul for September, and certainly much better than last year!). Three newbies this evening were the Dusky Thorn, Black Rustic and Pink-barred Sallow, but other highlights included a worn Amblyptilia acanthadactyla, 4 x Blair's Shoulder-knot and Snout.
A slightly milder night on the 22nd allowed for some mothing. It's been quiet lately due to the weather, but as I write this it looks that we're in for some good evening temperatures and only slight breezes. Autumn keeps dropping a few of it's moths in my trap - this evening it was the turn of Blair's Shoulder-knot and Red-green Carpet to grace my egg boxes! The Red-green didn't want to hang around for a decent portrait, so I apologise (but not much!) for the terrible pot-shot.
Blair's has this uncanny ability (like quite a few moths do) of 'playing dead'. This one however, did actually fool me for a while. After tipping onto it's front and then giving it a bit of a prod they usually give themselves away, but this one refused and as it had been in the fridge for the day I thought 'oops, that's broken it!'. In my thirst for curiosity I gently tried to open it wings to see what it looked like underneath....but he didn't like this intrusion and woke up with a start giving me a small heart attack!! Very funny! As you can see by the second photo...no harm done.
The 24th was a much better night, with warmer temperatures, completely still and not much in the way of rain. The results were 36 moths of 22 species (not a bad haul for September, and certainly much better than last year!). Three newbies this evening were the Dusky Thorn, Black Rustic and Pink-barred Sallow, but other highlights included a worn Amblyptilia acanthadactyla, 4 x Blair's Shoulder-knot and Snout.
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