Tuesday 29 July 2008

Yes, they have merits

I know that I'm a bit dismissive of 'yellow underwings' and I apologise to them. It's just that they are so common. But they certainly have merits. These three could teach us a thing about parking at Yeadon Morrison's. They've lined up so neatly thanks to the fact that another eggbox was perched on top of this one in the trap, giving them the dark nook they enjoy. It's a textbook trio; the three main variations of Large Yellow Underwing - dappled, light brown and dark. You may also feel that this diary is a study of eggboxes and certainly I'd never noticed before that Sainsbury's use suffragette colours. Green, white, violet (for Give Women Votes). Actually it's grey rather than white really, and all sprinkled with minute, light-stunned flies, but there is no need to get complicated. Oh, and the answer to yesterday's question? The moth is bottom left, the Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnet. I thought it was just a Five-spot Burnet but they're rarer. Thanks to Jax Westmoreland of Yorkshire Butterflies for keeping me accurate.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Martin
I have a Skinner moth trap, which I use a lot and also a Robinson mercury vapour. I don't seem to notice much difference in their trapping abilities. Last night I put out the Robinson hoping for a good catch but the rain woke me up at 4.30 and when I finally arose later in the morning all the egg cartons were wet and there very few moths. The big plus of the night however was a Brown Hawker dragonfly - the first I have caught in a trap.
I must congradlate you on the standard of your photographs. They are excellent and put my efforts to shame. I must get a slr and hope for better results.
Thanks for publicising the Open Air School book.
Norman

MartinWainwright said...

Hi Norman

That's interesting - we didn't seem to get the rain til 6am which was when I went out to empty the trap. We've had a lovely bronze fragonfly whirring about at the weekend, a big one. I wonder if that's the same.

My camera is a Canon Ixus digital - just a little thing but foolproof (me being the fool) if you put it on Macro and suppress the flash. Mind you, plenty of the ones you don't see are blurred!

All v best

M