With a house full of men (electrician, carpenters, heating engineer) over the last few days, the only way for me to maintain any sort of social distancing was to go and sit in the garden with a moth book (and yes Neil, your shots are easily just as good as the ones in this book). I had forgotten how many wonderful moths there were, most of which I shall never see and many of which I would never be able to identify especially given the huge variety even within species. Many already know that I struggle with even the simple ones. Nevertheless, I thought I would give the moth trap another try last night. There must have been hundreds of moths in there this morning, especially the tiny ones. Sadly, there were also about a dozen hornets and the bottom of the trap was littered with wings and bodies
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Huge numbers of moths flew away before I could get any sort of photo including some that I liked enough to try to identify. One was Mother of Pearl, a real beauty, very feminine looking, whilst an Oak Hook Tip was an interesting shape and the exact colour of wood. There were 3 species of Footman and I believe they were Rosy, Dingy and Scarce. I think one might have been a Ruby Tiger - is that even likely? A rich brown colour with a furry mantle.
Anyway, on to a few that I did manage to photograph - a mixture of old favourites and a couple new.
Buff Tip - I'd be really embarrassed if I got this one wrong!
Buff Ermine
Lesser (?) Swallow Prominent
This one has to be my favourite just because of the sheer elegance of it - so streamlined and very architectural looking. It deserves a couple of shots:
Pale Prominent
Black Arches I believe?
Another guess at Peppered moth
Really wanted a shot of this Sallow Kitten but it wouldn't stay still
True Lovers Knot - about a dozen of these.
No time to identify the last 3 as have to go make more teas/coffee.