Friday 4 May 2018

Niece's birthday bonus


I had a nice reminder this morning of why moth-trapping is infectious. After my extremely dawdly start to this year's trapping, the eggboxes came up trumps in the way they do, arousing all the hunter's instincts and hope of rewarding arrivals to come.

The female Emperor - Empress, I guess - in the top two pictures is the star of the show and she is now snoozing in our shed with the doors and windows open in the hope that her super-powerful pheromones will attract a mate or mates.  This well-known phenomenon of 'assembling', which can lure males from over a mile away, has worked brilliantly in the past. One Empress became a great-grandmother (posthumously) after breeding in our second year in Oxfordshire.



It was great to find a Streamer on the moth cowl, left below the Empress, and the Swallow Prominents on the lamp wire in my second composite picture - two standard SPs at either end and a Lesser SP in the middle. Also shown here are: bottom right in the first composite, a Muslin Moth; bottom row in the second composite: Brindled Beauty, Pebble Prominent and V-Pug; and below, clockwise from top left: Chocolate-tip, yet-to-be-IDed micro (help always appreciated), Least Black Arches and Early Grey.


This is a great collection to arrive on the birthday of one of my three talented and lovely nieces. Happy Birthday Annie! And love to all the bouncing family

2 comments:

worm said...

never knew that emperors fly at this time of year! Only ever seen them in late summer

Martin Wainwright said...

Hi there - yes, I was rather surprised when we moved down here, both by their timing and their abundance; they are downright common in the Thames Vally. I had always had them as day-flyers in places such as the North York Moors. I'm just about to post the exciting sequel to this one's visit. All warmest M