Wednesday 18 August 2010

Good as gold



Some of the lesser bretheren this morning; but like the lily in the Bible, aren't they beautifully adorned? This little golden micromoth is only half the size of a sunflower seed, but its patterning is lovely, quite apart from the metallic sheen. A pair of them came to the trap which I put in a shady patch of the garden, and the second was obligingly resting in the bottom of the trap with its wings outspread. I haven't yet mastered the art of photographing moths in the trap, whose partially-reflective black plastic does something odd to the light levels, so apologies that the golden gleam is dulled in the smaller picture. One up for the human retina as opposed to the camera lens. But the moth was wide awake and any attempt to move it would have led to flight. Indeed, soon after I took the picture here, off it zoomed.

The pair were alongside another prominently-marked micro; about four times their size and with a vaguely skull-shaped blotch on its folded wings. Also there, were the usual crowd of assorted yellow underwings, albeit fewer than come to the trap's usual position closer to flowerbeds, assorted Rustics, a couple of Dun-bars and a fine Spectacle which perched on the bulb-holder. I'll keep that for tomorrow's post.

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