Saturday 19 October 2013

Meet the Missus



Yesterday I featured the male Feathered Thorn with his fine antennae. Today his other half came calling. Compared with his flashy orange colouring, she often has the Quakerish costume of modest, delicate grey as shown below, but evidently she can be a saucebox as well. I am going by the gleam in her eye, above.


As I mentioned yesterday, her antennae are plain and decorous, unlike the fine, long ones of this minute brown micro, below. I spent ages trying to get the camera at an angle where the lens wasn't baffled by the reflective black plastic of the trap bowl where this mini creature was asleep. Finally, defying the risk of it waking with a start and speeding off, I lured it on to an eggbox fragment and into the light. Update: after consulting my Micro Bible, I think it's Caloptilia elongella, with its fine knee-breeches.



While engaged in these manoeuvres, I spotted a Red-green Carpet moth also on the bowl, in a position which looked intriguing. And then a poor old veteran which is now in the running for my 2013 Tattered Survivor Award.




Finally, who can resist a fine specimen of the Green-brindled Crescent? Not me.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

50 shades of Feathered Thorn?

MartinWainwright said...

Watch out for tomorrow's post CT - it's going to be all about shades of grey

all v best

M