Now that moth season 2018 is properly underway, a blog post about moths is long overdue. I ran the moth trap last night even though it got quite cold once the sun went down.

By morning, I had got a nice selection of interesting moths. This first one, a Sallow Kitten,  is a stunning moth with really distinctive markings and lovely furry legs. It also has what seems to be a monkey face rucksack on.

This next moth is an insult to all the hours we have spent pulling up wheelbarrow loads of Ragwort over the years here because its the Cinnabar moth – a Ragwort specialist.

The third one is the Muslin moth. I always think that this moth looks like its dressed up to go to the opera in its fur stole. And those wonderful antennae:

Elsewhere in the meadows today, the Brimstone Butterfly caterpillars are beginning to hatch out on the Alder Buckthorn trees. These trees are still small and unable to support too much munching so I hope they are not stripped again like they were last year:

I think this butterfly below is a Common Blue – the first of the year here. I am not completely sure it’s not a Holly Blue since they can look so similar unless you see the underside of their wings, which I didn’t. But a wonderful sight to see on a daisy whatever it is:

I saw a different longhorn moth today. This one’s horns are nowhere near as long and are white tipped and such a metallic shine to the body: Nemophora cupriacella

Finally, the wild bee box is pretty much now full:

So its lucky that we now have a second one: