Wednesday 9 August 2017

Welly weather


The weather is most un-Summery in Oxfordshire at the moment, dripping wet and disappointingly cool when the showers do relent. Moth numbers are consequently well down and the luminous presence of an almost full moon also reduces the appeal of my artificial lamp. So no great surprises today.

My first two pictures show a couple of nice micros, though: the snouty Cochylimorpha straminea, above, and the very prettily-patterned Pandemis corylana, or Chequered Fruit-tree Tortrix, to the left. These tiny moths are easy to overlook or sideline during the morning inspection of the eggboxes but they repay examination through the camera lens, even with my sub-standard equipment and skills.

What the next moth is, I cannot say and I doubt that the experts will be certain either. It's taken a battering during its brief life and the remaining fragments of pattern do not really seem to add up. But I will add it to my list for submission to the ever-helpful identifiers on the Upper Thames Moths blog. Update: Dave Wilton on UTM confirms my doubts but suggests that it could have been a Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing.



Three dainties to conclude with: a tiny little Least Carpet, a Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet and a Lime-speck Pug.




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