With the situation as it is, the best I can do is to keep an eye on the moths that are attracted to the outdoor lights. I've got plenty of pots and my camera "macro" gear with me, so I'll try to make the best of it.
A small and, very, strikingly marked, micro, turned up yesterday night, as we were awaiting the appearance of the "district nurses" to give Dad some assistance - which they did with aplomb and professionalism as befits/defines the NHS, they were superb! This tricky little blighter didn't want it's portrait taken, it took three attempts, thus three sessions in the fridge, before I got an image worthy of mention.
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| I'm going with Oegoconia caradjai for this one |
It was almost exactly a year ago that I captured a very similar moth, of this same family, and, although I believe it to be a different species will never know because I won't resort to genitalia details (only obtainable from dead specimens) - how will I cope?
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| This one is from 9th July 2015, I'm guessing Oegoconia quadripuncta ? |
So there you have it - two very similar moths which can only be identified, reliably, by killing them! This is the same situation as Gilbert White found when trying to differentiate Chiffchaff, Wood and Willow Warbler way back in his Selborne vicarage - 1789! That's how far behind our knowledge of invertebrate id is lagging - humanity is now flying a man to Mars!
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