Lured

Moth Quiz 19
Icarus flew too near the sun

Scorched Wing
 
Moth Quiz 20
Macbeth saw a rather dull one.

Sunday, May 31

We had a wildlife in the garden day yesterday. We saw a Norfolk Chaser last week, which eluded my camera. It was very active around the pond and never perched. I took several blank air shots.

Yesterday we were visited by a Four-spotted Chaser. Also very active, but it did perch on a small Echium at the back of the rockery, long enough for a few OKish shots. Pam has seen it ovipositing to-day.

The pheromone lure for Red-tipped Clearwing was then put out early afternoon  I've never tried that one before. Several years ago, we parked at Salthouse whilst David N and John G walked to Little Eye, armed with a Red-tipped Lure. Pam was waiting for a second hip operation so couldn't manage the shingle walk. The men were good enough to pot a Clearwing and bring it back for us to see. Until yesterday that was our only sighting.

It was hot and still with surprisingly enough air movement to attract a Red-tipped Clearwing into the trap, the lure is in a small compartment in the lid.

I bought my trap and the lures from Jon Clifton at ALS.

I love Clearwings, so different from the normal concept of a moth. They are diurnal, but not often seen without the use of a lure. My first was a Currant Clearwing on - not surprisingly - a row of currant bushes at Wiveton Fruit Farm west of Cley. The second, Yellow-legged,  James Lowen brought to Yarmouth Bird Club, after I'd expressed a wish to see one. He was at one of our moth-ing meets at Strumpshaw in the morning. I then bought some lures and we trapped our own Yellow-legged in the garden.

I have also seen two further species at Strumpshaw, and a Hornet Clearwing was brought to Natural Surroundings by a group member. Every one a delight.

Once Pam had managed to decant the moth into a net and then into a pot - easier written than done - we attempted some photographs. Later, I discovered that the pot was not as clean as we thought, which led to some smudges. What a lovely moth.

Our Australian Bottlebrush shrub is in full bloom at the moment. Next to it is a 4 metre tall Echium, the original of which we brought back from the Isles of Scilly. They self seed prolifically, but not many survive our winters. They're biennials too. Bees and other insects love both the Bottlebrush and the Echium, there's a distinct hum from that direction at all times of the day.

The red water lily is in flower now too. This photo also shows a dragonfly nymph nearby.