A Mixed Bag of Bank Holiday Weekend Garden Sightings

Angle Shades

I am not very good at moth identification, and while this Angle Shades looked familiar, I was grateful to the folk on iSpot who gave me a nudge in the right direction. The moth was resting, which apparently they often do out in the open during daylight hours. It looked to me as if it had strung a couple of grass blades together, but I may be mistaken.

I apologise for the fractured quality of the photograph below, but I wanted to see if a 'full frontal' would help me to see what the moth was doing.

Angle Shades, head-on

I always keep an eye out for the iridescent Ruby-tailed Wasp at this time of year, and was not disappointed, though it took me two attempts to end up with the record shot you see below. These insects are small (about 1cm in length), skittish and flighty. Cuckoo wasps may not be my top insects, but you have to admire the colours!

I always find I lose a bit of damselfly knowledge over the winter, so I hope we see a few more to get my ID skills back up to speed. Having had a Small Red sighting last week, it was lovely to discover this blue specimen (or is it the Azure?) on the woodbine after a rain shower.

Damselfly

I usually find Mint Moths give me a run for my money as, like the Ruby-tailed Wasp, they flit about and are hard to photograph. But this one rested for some time on the large ox-eye daisy-like flower below.

Mint Moth

My First Mint Moth of 2018

I was delighted to find a Mint Moth (Pyrausta aurata) in the garden this morning. We have seen these small creatures here before, but only infrequently. Each forewing is about the size of a little fingernail, possibly smaller. The strange thing is that to my knowledge we do not have any mint or thyme, but I guess these herbs may grow in neighbouring gardens.  

I had to be quite patient while the moth rested on the underside of a nettle: you can just see it in the photo above. 

After a few minutes of fluttering around and landing once or twice in shady patches of undergrowth, it perched on a Daisy in full sunshine, allowing me a good view. 

You can just make out its proboscis in the photo above so perhaps our Daisies were acceptable as mint substitutes. You can also see the distinctive markings of the underwings and the narrow stripes on the abdomen. 

This shows the insect with its wings together. You can see a fringe around the edges.