The weather has been glorious, post shift, for most of the week; the mornings being rather misty but burning off by mid-day to reveal a splendid afternoon (the joy of being on earlies!). Insects continue to dominate my interest as I go about my daily routine, Green-veined White being my latest addition to the 2015 butterfly list - I'm now on four!
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A mind-blowing combination of colours - but for what purpose? Bottom line, do we really need to know?
Is it not possible to look, and enjoy, without the requirement to explain every nuance of evolution?
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It was a garden encounter with the micro-moth,
Esperia sulphurella, which allowed me to play around with the extension tubes this afternoon. What a stunning colour scheme for such a tiny insect? 7 mm, plus its antennae, only really able to be appreciated when seen up close, therefore an ideal subject for digital macro photography. Quite why this intricate combination of colours and iridescent scales is required by such a small creature is just another excuse to keep me looking; as if I need one?
This particular creature is common, around Thanet, but I am sure that very few human residents have ever bothered to pay it any heed. I can't sit indoors, watching "Spring-watch" on T/V, when I know that there's so much more to discover, for myself, right on my doorstep. The use of the extension tubes being yet another way in which I am able to enrich my journey through life.
A scarce insect up here Dylan, but I found my first in the garden last year. I hope I see some more...
ReplyDeleteStewart - I'd readily swap a sackful of these stunning little moths for one more Garden Tiger - a species which I've not recorded since 2003! Like the recently discussed situation of Willow Tit and Grey Partridge, the distribution of our wildlife is an ever changing situation and one that we do not have any chance of fully understanding? I'm fairly confident that, if you keep going, Small Ranunculus and Tree Lichen Beauty will also be additions to your garden list and E. sulphurella will become as familiar as Set Heb Chars as the decades unfold. Hoping all is well? - Dyl
ReplyDeleteHi Dylan, Yes everything fine here thank you, and I trust the same for you. Those southern species might take some years to get here, but there are moths about 50 miles south that I dont get such as Dot Moth for example...Its nice to keep getting odd new stuff each year though its what keeps us going :)
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