Sunday 7 June 2009

Charlotte and friends



I mentioned Bronte moths a few entries back, and here's a selection. It was very cool last night (British weather...who'd believe we'd just had all that sun), and they came out in their dark coats and bonnets. I think that the top one is a Dark Marble Carpet with small micro-friend (No, no I'm wrong - see wise Comments), and below are two Scalloped Hazels, one called variety Nigra for obvious reasons. These are all the sort of moth which seldom gets a second glance, but if you click on the pics, or indeed meet one in the wild, they are worth studying closely for the intricate patterns.



Carpet moths tend to wake up instantly when you disturb the trap, and flutter off. Bigger ones, such as as the Hazels, can be almost impossible to wake. Here's a Heart and Dart, too, another of this year's new arrivals of a regular. One I featured last year prompted an interesting exchange with the Heart and Dart soap shop in New York.

Do you watch Have I Got News For You? The episode repeated last night was a major triumph for moths. Clive Anderson and Paul Merton got into a whacky riff about brushing them, which is impossible to explain but was lavish publicity. If you scroll down a few posts to the Pale Tussock, you'll see that brushing moths could actually be quite interesting, on pony-grooming lines. If you know Messrs A or M, please tell them. Actually, partly because it's such a nice pink rhododendron in the background, I've added this picture, left, of last week's Pale Tussock to show its brushability. Click on it and take in that left antenna (the one which isn't blurred)!

5 comments:

Bennyboymothman said...

our top Moth is a Small Phoenix Martin :)

MartinWainwright said...

Hi there - nice pic - but that's a Buff Ermine isn't it? (See a few posts back on this blog). Mind you, I'm usually wrong...

I'm just off to cover the Euro-election results in Manchester so will be out as late as any moth

All v best

Martin

Anonymous said...

Hi Martin, I agree with Ben that the macro is a Small Phoenix. The micro is Scoparia ambigualis.

Regards,
Nigel

MartinWainwright said...

Sorry, I'm being dim. I got in a muddle over Bennyboy's logo pic or whatever the correct term is. Many thanks for putting me right - and,Nigel, for identifying the micro. People who can identify micros have my unbounded admiration. If I feature any more and you have time to name them, I'd be really pleased.

all best M

Bennyboymothman said...

Was probably my fault putting 'Our' not 'Your'
Glad we got there inthe end :)
keep up the good blogging!