Reuben arrived on the evening of the 8th of July to set up his moth trap deep within Merlindale's walled garden. Alongside a multitude of other species, the elusive v moth was one that we sought to capture. Thus we waited until daylight, keeping our fingers crossed in the hopes of catching it; praying throughout the rainy night that we would strike gold.
The following morning the trap was packed full of species; some like the large yellow underwing were huge, comfortably taking up the palm of your hand, while others were as tiny as a fingernail like the playboy bunny moth. Some were drab brown colours like the fan foot whilst others were rich in colour like the burnished brass and the gold spot which mirrored the beautiful colours often only associated with butterflies. Unfortunately, the v moth was nowhere to be found.
Reuben managed to record a total of 34 different species using the night-time moth trap. What's more this species count doesn't even include the remarkable lunar hornet moth which Reuben lured along the river the following morning. This moth is particularly special because, as the name suggests, it mimics the appearance of a hornet in what is recognized as 'Batesian mimicry'.
lunar hornet moth
burnished brass
Lempke's gold spot
pied smudge (playboy bunny moth)
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