Moth-er flutter

June, despite its mercurial weather, has been quite the lepidopteran feast.

The past three weekends have featured some sunny weather, huge downpours and gale force winds. You may recall that we had to cancel a wildlife walk due to persistent showers. It should be noted that this postponement was purely for the benefit of humans, the wildlife was out in the weather whatever.

There follows a brief round-up of some of the moths and butterflies seen since we last spoke.

There has been a steady stream of sightings of Painted Ladies in the county. This one was nectaring on our front "lawn".

Prior to one of the huge downpours, Megan spotted this moth on the garage wall. How, I do not know.

Grey Dagger

Sheltering from the weather, this time on the frame of the patio door, a Clouded-bordered Brindle.

Meanwhile on the recess of the kitchen window, a Narrow-winged Pug

And the fourth Megan-spotted moth was a Wormword Pug on the increasingly-popular garage wall. 

Yesterday saw us leading the re-scheduled walk in Hoy. It wasn't raining, it was sunny. But the south westerly wind was gusting in the high forties. Five brave folk turned up, and once we had survived the ferry crossing from Houton to Lyness, we set about exploring the sheltered places on our route.

An early instar caterpillar of either a Red Admiral or a Small Tortoiseshell 

And more of the same

Caterpillar of the Red Sword-Grass moth

A female Ghost Moth

A Large Heath butterfly

Hmmm, still not quite sure what this caterpillar is. Options include Mouse moth or Burnished Brass.

A Beautiful Golden Y

Then, today, whilst snarfing lunch outside in the garden, our eyes were drawn to a fluttering moth investigating the borders. Even when nectaring on a geranium, it wouldn't stay still for a photo to allow ID. I deployed a clear perspex pot and the whirring wings rested for a while whilst we figured out that it was...

a Beautiful Golden Y on home turf

In lagomorph news, at least one of the local Brown Hares has figured out sufficient escape routes from the garden that it is comfortable to visit despite the fences. This pleases us greatly.