Anyone else like moths or shall I shut up now?

[Catfish]

A guy goes into a dentist's office. The dentist says, "How can I help you?"

The guy says, "I'm a moth."

The dentist says, "Excuse me?"

The guy says again, "I'm a moth."

The dentist says, "I think maybe you should be seeing a psychiatrist, not a dentist."

The guy says, "I saw a psychiatrist."

The dentist says, "So what are you doing here?"

The guy says,...

"Your light was on."

<O>
Must have overlooked that.
:rotfl2::rotfl2:

[Catfish]

Ok i know it is the moth thread, but ..


https://i.imgur.com/TQJlHwGl.jpg

[Eichhörnchen]

https://i.imgur.com/Qvx5Rg6.jpg

A female Orange Tip butterfly photographed on geraniums in the garden yesterday, before the rains returned

[Moonlight]

Had a cinnabar moth in the house today, I took it outside and told it not to come back or her indoors would freak out and probably smite you stone dead.
I've got some Ragwort in the wild part of the garden so I took it down there, I must be getting touched in the head for talking to a bloody moth. :O:

[vienna]

I really wouldn't worry unless the moth starts talking back...




<O>

[Jimbuna]

I really wouldn't worry unless the moth starts talking back...




<O>

:haha:

[Eichhörnchen]

I've got some Ragwort in the wild part of the garden so I took it down there, I must be getting touched in the head for talking to a bloody moth. :O:

Good man

Here's a "Silver-ground Carpet" moth on our drive a couple of days ago... very common at this time of year. The larvae feed at night on plants like bedstraw and grasses


https://i.imgur.com/9TuAYMN.jpg

[Eichhörnchen]

First visit to the 'hot spot' this summer but it was an absolute waste of time. All I saw was this little Shaded Broad-bar moth... a very common thing

https://i.imgur.com/owE11a0.jpg

[Eichhörnchen]

https://i.imgur.com/W8JkROk.jpg Male

https://i.imgur.com/88XnkwO.jpg Female

Still a lousy year for butterflies. I went over to my favourite spot a couple of days ago and the only things I saw were 2 or 3 Meadow Browns and these two Hedge Browns (aka the Gatekeeper). The male is smaller and has the large patches of brown scent scales in the middle of the forewings, absent from the much larger female

I did learn something when reading up on these, however, and that is that they are entirely absent from Scotland. Maybe it's the bagpipes

[Eichhörnchen]

https://i.imgur.com/0TsZfu5.jpg

Moira found some Cinnabar Moth larvae on Ragwort today and brought back this photo for me. She said they prefer Oxford Ragwort, which she says this is. She knows more than I do about plants then... as well as Cinnabar larvae

[vienna]

My first ex is also a a bit of an expert on flora and fauna and I, as you, am not; many of our conversations while walking in nature or through gardens would be as follows:


Her: Oh look! Do you know what kind of flower that is?...

Me: Um... er... ...red...?...

Her: (exasperated): Its a red peony! How could you not know that?...

Me: It wasn't covered in our "Guy's Handbook"...


...later, I would get her with "What?! You don't know the intonation srews on a standard Stratocaster is 4-40 x 5/8"...?..."...




<O>

[Catfish]

https://i.imgur.com/0TsZfu5.jpg

Moira found some Cinnabar Moth larvae on Ragwort today and brought back this photo for me. She said they prefer Oxford Ragwort, which she says this is. She knows more than I do about plants then... as well as Cinnabar larvae
Maybe the moth will be of cinnabar colour, the larva looks very german though :hmmm:

re Vienna
A girl friend of mine who had studied biology had a date with a lawyer in Konstanz. Seeing a gull lift off he said "oh look a duck"; the arising relationship stopped right there.

[vienna]

My second ex is a lawyer; she was also a photography buff and was always fiddling with her lens settings, etc.; once, in San Francisco, we were walking along the wharves, and she saw a very beautiful seagull standing on a pier piling, soaking up the sun; she wanted to take a picture of the bird and set about fiddling with the settings on her very expensive camera; I, with my lowly Kodak Instamatic, got off a quick snap of the bird; meanwhile, the gull started to look at her with seeming impatience, fluttered its feathers and, with an attitude of "Later, girl", took off before she had finished her set up; I had to keep my photo in hiding since it became a sore point with her...




<O>

[Eichhörnchen]

^I remember when cameras were like that. Fortunately these digital ones do it all for you, just like the Instamatic only much sharper

[Eichhörnchen]

https://i.imgur.com/BOGnrZo.jpg

Been a lousy year for butterflies again. This is the normally very common Small Tortoiseshell, which was rarely spotted last summer yet has been frequently seen around here this year

[Eichhörnchen]

https://i.imgur.com/c6OVDJx.jpg

Moira wanted to pick blackberries today along the wooded bank at the end of our road, now that we finally have some decent weather. I took the camera along and found the place alive with Speckled Wood butterflies... just like it should be. So these creatures don't seem to have suffered the huge losses that most of the other local species have; they've even been visiting our garden

[Catfish]

Must be nice to be a caterpillar ..

Eat and sleep.
Eat and sleep.
Eat and sleep.

ZAP. Beautiful..

[Eichhörnchen]

If only our lives were that simple; I want to come back as a caterpillar

[August]

Maybe not this one! :)



https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRW2s3xdygN0ls6-mJWTPJf_GPFqjb7QA3SlQ&usqp=CAU

[Eichhörnchen]

https://i.imgur.com/mFYXF3d.jpg

This one's got me completely foxed. It's sitting on our front room window right now (been there all day) and I just can't identify it. It's only a little over 2cm from wingtip to wingtip.

I've asked Moonlight to look through his Aunt Priscilla's moth books when he goes down there to look after her farm animals, but I think he's going to be too busy trying to keep away from her geese

Edit: just been told by a Facebook friend that it's a Common Marbled Carpet

[Eichhörnchen]

https://i.imgur.com/HKOfQQp.jpg

The first real Spring-like day brought this vivid yellow male Brimstone into the garden to drink from the Periwinkle, which seems to be in flower all the year round. These butterflies are more of a greenish colour underneath but you rarely get to photograph them with wings open. It will have been hibernating in the ivy

[Rockstar]

Don’t mean to derail or hijack a thread it’s just that it brings to mind a story how these beautiful creatures got their names as told by Mark Twain in his book The Diaries Of Adam & Eve



WEDNESDAY

Eve

We are getting along very well indeed now and getting better and better acquainted. He does not try to avoid me anymore, which is a good sign, and shows that he likes to have me with him. That pleases me, and I study to be useful to him in every way I can, so as to increase his regard.

During the last day or two, I have taken all the work of naming things off his hands; and this has been a great relief to him, for he has no gift in that line and is evidently very grateful. He can’t think of a rational name to save him, but I do not let him see that I am aware of his defect. Whenever a new creature comes along , I name it before he has time to expose himself by an awkward silence. In this way I have saved him many embarrassments.

I have no defect like his. The minute I set eyes on an animal, I know what it is. I don’t have to reflect a moment; the right name comes out instantly, just as if it were an inspiration, as no doubt it is, for I am sure it wasn’t in me half a minute before. I seem to know just by the shape of the creature and the way it acts what animal it is.

When the Dodo came along, he thought it was a wildcat - I saw it in his eye. But I saved him. And I was careful not to do it in a way that would hurt his pride. I just spoke up in a quite natural way of pleased surprise, and not as if I was dreaming of conveying information, and said: “Well, I do declare, if there isn’t the Dodo!” I explained - without seeming to be explaining - how I knew it for a Dodo; and although I thought maybe he was a little piqued that I knew the creature when he didn’t, it was quite evident that he admired me. That was very agreeable, and I thought of it more than once with gratification before I slept. How little a thing can make us happy when we feel we earned it.

————

TUESDAY

Adam

I get no chance to name anything myself. The new creature names everything that comes along before I can get in a protest. And always the same pretext is offered - it looks like the thing. There is the Dodo for instance. Says the moment the one looks at it, one sees at a glance that it “looks like a Dodo.” It will have to keep that name, no doubt. It wearies me to fret about it, and it does no good anyway. Dodo! It looks no more like a Dodo than I do.

It’s too bad Mark Twain didn’t get to experience the age of automobiles and women drivers. :D nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more.

[Eichhörnchen]

^ Indeed :har:

[Sean C]

Found this guy hanging out on my front porch:

https://i.imgur.com/fIIhhDAh.jpg

I think he had just emerged from his cocoon, because a minute earlier, his wings were all folded up and he looked entirely different.

EDIT: I think it might be an Eight-Spotted Forester Moth (https://www.insectidentification.org/insect-description.php?identification=Eight-Spotted-Forester-Moth).

[Eichhörnchen]

^ Great photo

[Sean C]

https://i.imgur.com/9v5KcMNh.jpg

[Eichhörnchen]

^ I think this is a Wainscot Moth

The one above that we don't get in the UK, so I don't know it

[Skybird]

This thread taught me to look with other eyes at moths. I never paid attention to their diversity and beauty, took them for granted.



Like grass species. Most people do not look cloesley, take them for granted. But Im sometimes watch wild grass in the winds for long minutes, or individual grasses, the colours, forms. So beautiful.

[Catfish]

For the infantry, grass life was quite a show. Called it "Brehm's Tierleben live" and it was only over when i got away to the navy 03:

[Eichhörnchen]

This thread taught me to look with other eyes at moths. I never paid attention to their diversity and beauty, took them for granted.



Like grass species. Most people do not look cloesley, take them for granted. But Im sometimes watch wild grass in the winds for long minutes, or individual grasses, the colours, forms. So beautiful.

I am very gratified by your comments: there are so many more species of moth than there are butterflies - around two and a half thousand inhabit the UK compared with around 52 butterflies - and they will often be found to be every bit as striking in their appearance

So many interesting families, from the hawk moths to the 'carpet' moths and hook tips. Fascinating stories behind their history, too... such as the white ermine moths who rapidly evolved a dark form in the industrial north of England in response to the sooty environment and consequent higher predation of the lighter coloured insects

[Eichhörnchen]

Just a glimpse at some varieties in my collection. There are many far bigger and more beautiful which I never managed to collect before giving up the hobby on conscientious grounds

https://i.imgur.com/1gypy42.jpg

Copper Underwing and below it a Large Yellow Underwing. The pretty spotted one next to that is a Speckled Yellow - not a widespread species. The large Old Lady Moth is common everywhere. That's a Six Spot Burnet below it and beneath that what looks to be a Peppered Moth



https://i.imgur.com/FmQTiJI.jpg https://i.imgur.com/o4i7BBE.jpg

Left: Five Spot Burnet and Magpie moths; Right: Buff Tip and a male Drinker Moth. He's much smaller than the female and (unlike her) has broad feathered antennae

[Eichhörnchen]

I've been trying recently - without much success - to photograph moths in the garden

But a good friend of mine was playing with his old Canon camera the other day when this appeared. It was a case of right place right time. He makes me sick


https://i.imgur.com/2wgvrjA.jpg (Photo used with permission)

[Sean C]

Wow, that's an incredible shot! I'm guessing your friend is no stranger to cameras.

[Eichhörnchen]

On this, the first day of the record-breaking heatwave, all I found to photograph was this speckled wood butterfly in the garden. The insects I've always been so interested in seem to be fast disappearing

https://i.imgur.com/iNBJdB6.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/pDBMyiY.jpg

[Eichhörnchen]

https://i.imgur.com/QWz9V24.jpg Not much action over behind the church... spotted this Brown Argus though



https://i.imgur.com/dmWlwo0.jpg

About 4 out of every six butterflies I've seen so far this summer have been Gatekeepers, this one also seen today. These normally not so very numerous butterflies seem almost to have the place to themselves this year

[mapuc]

A new Moth has been discovered in USA

The atlas moth, a massive insect with a wingspan of about 10 inches, was found in the U.S. for the first time last month, Washington state officials say.

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/08/18/worlds-largest-moth-atlas-found-washington/10356499002/

Markus

[Eichhörnchen]

Wow - thanks for this, Markus :Kaleun_Salute:

[Eisenwurst]

http://i.imgur.com/IWRsbmx.jpg

Does this count ??? If so then yes I like moths too.

[Eichhörnchen]

^ :yep:

[Aktungbby]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e6/Actias_luna_female_sjh.JPG/1024px-Actias_luna_female_sjh.JPG meets https://i.etsystatic.com/5961957/r/il/3fca5d/3256566910/il_794xN.3256566910_tmdd.jpg

[mapuc]

Hmm Wouldn't it be somehow difficult to find a needle big enough and wouldn't it not be difficult to punch the needle through her back and stomach. Not to mentioned how big should the box and the glas be in size.

Then you have to find a wall where she can be hanging.
Edit
I forgot this :O:
End edit

Markus

[Catfish]

^ maybe if you meet a butterfly-based alien that will do exactly this with human specimens :D

[Aktungbby]

Hmm Wouldn't it be somehow difficult to find a needle big enough and wouldn't it not be difficult to punch the needle through her back and stomach. Not to mentioned how big should the box and the glas be in size.

Then you have to find a wall where she can be hanging.
Edit
I forgot this :O:
End edit

Markus

^ maybe if you meet a butterfly-based alien that will do exactly this with human specimens :D In this particular case: you're both raving lunatics!!:D

[August]

^ maybe if you meet a butterfly-based alien that will do exactly this with human specimens :D

Nah, all we have to do is start a fire and like all moths to a flame they'll be irresistibly drawn to their doom.

[Eisenwurst]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jmoa13TG2TY

A beautiful song about a famous moth. :)

[vienna]

I recently saw a TV news story about a nearly extinct species of butterfly here in the LA area, down to just a very, very small patch of land and numbering in less than a couple of dozen population; it brought to mind how I had noticed the remarkable lack of once plentiful Monarch butterflies in California; they, too are facing decimation and are rarely seen nowadays; it wasn't always like that and as evidence, (and for Eichhörnchen), here is a link to a sit that archives the programs aired on the PBS stations in CA, created by a man named Huell Howser, who, in the days before YT, would make short films highlighting some of the little known and/or more colorful places, people, and things in CA...


This is a teaser YT video posted by the local college that archives and curates Howser's videos:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7sIerX8cxU


Howser's videos used to be all on YT, but college controlling the material chose to only allow access via their website (a shame, since it limits availability); this is a link to the webpage with the full 25 minute video:


Monarchs – California’s Gold (2012)

https://blogs.chapman.edu/huell-howser-archives/2000/01/08/monarchs-californias-gold-2012/



<O>

[Eichhörnchen]

It's hard to imagine that Monarch butterflies (probably the most recognised in the world) are becoming scarce. Now that really is a worrying development. I've never known times like these, when you can walk down a country lane in spring or high summer and not see a single butterfly, or pass a blossom laden hawthorn and not hear the thing alive with bees

There have always in the past been many enthusiastic schemes to reintroduce lost populations of insects such as the Large Blue and Large Copper - you don't hear about these anymore. I think the conservationists have got their hands full just trying to help those species that are left to hang on

The places I often used to visit are very lonely now - the stands of Cat's Ear flowers that grows in one particular corner was just plain deserted this year and even old friends like the Meadow Brown were met with only occasionally

[Eichhörnchen]

Just a couple of hundred yards up the road from us is an ancient bank which supports woodland all the way along its top and, as here, on either side as well. This often creates a calm sun-trap, ideal for butterflies and other insects on very blowy days like today

entering from the road the footpath runs along the top of the bank, from where you can look down into a dell, thick with cow parsley and bordered by hawthorn, also in full bloom

Today there were many Orange Tip butterflies here, making the most of the abundant warmth and nectar - but the males (with the orange fore-wings) are always very restless, so the shot I got of this one taking off is as about as good as it was going to get

https://i.imgur.com/R0eXEuy.jpg The way in

https://i.imgur.com/pCTfweJ.jpg (Opposite side of the road)

https://i.imgur.com/rSQRGNr.jpg Up onto the bank

https://i.imgur.com/QttEMfN.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/paejXSS.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/rFCupJ1.jpg Obliging male Orange Tip

[Eichhörnchen]

https://i.imgur.com/4XdEL72.jpg

We went for a bike ride just now and I got a decent pic of this male feeding from a vetch. A lovely hot afternoon

[Moonlight]

A 55 minute vid on the Monarch butterfly, I'm sure I saw a David Attenborough nature documentary on this butterfly a long time ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NodPEek1lnI

[Eichhörnchen]

^ My little sister once clouted one of those with a baseball bat whilst on holiday in the US - killed outright of course


https://i.imgur.com/XKq1ItF.jpg

I was just out in the garden doing some pruning and this little fella fluttered across the lawn and hid in the bushes. He's the aptly named Brimstone Moth, a day flying moth often mistaken for a butterfly

[Eichhörnchen]

Ours - their favoured food plants are blackthorn (sloe) and hawthorn, both here in abundance but scarcely seen in built-up areas; they wouldn't dare grow in my mother-in-law's garden

[Eichhörnchen]

It's been another very bad year for butterfly watchers - even if we do start to see more continental types establishing themselves in England, one would expect that the same factors causing such a decline here will affect them also

https://i.imgur.com/jV7wYox.jpg

Here's a Speckled Wood photographed just now - a country butterfly (ours is a rural spot) by no means scarce as a rule. These are probably the easiest of all to photograph: they show no fear of man, returning to the same favourite spot no matter how often disturbed. This they fiercely defend against all others of their species who wander into their territory - normally a woodland glade - and the two will spiral upwards in a dance-like combat, a common sight in the forests

[Eichhörnchen]

"Giant sex-crazed moths are set to arrive in Kent this summer"

https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/giant-sex-crazed-moths-set-1690956

[Moonlight]

^Play your cards right Mister Squirrel and you could bag yourself one of those. :03:

[Eichhörnchen]

I think I'd need a gun

[Eichhörnchen]

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2023/november/moth-found-in-west-london-is-a-new-species-from-australia.html#:~:text=A%20small%2C%20unassuming%2 0moth%20found,moth%20to%20a%20local%20expert.

As I expected, it's a pretty boring looking thing even to a moth enthusiast. Reece probably has these in his wallet

[Eichhörnchen]

https://i.imgur.com/GyH7Vao.jpeg

No there are no orange tips - this is the female, photographed today on the wild garlic in the garden. Very warm now and after having millions of bees visit our crab-apple tree (there were pathetically few last Spring) I'm more hopeful of seeing butterflies in 2024; 2023 was a total washout

https://i.imgur.com/aaApUvz.jpeg Wed 8th and a male came along

[Sean C]

Found this guy on my porch screen the other day:


https://imgur.com/a/wR0Ic20
https://imgur.com/a/wR0Ic20
https://imgur.com/a/wR0Ic20
https://www.insectidentification.org/insect-description.php?identification=Tulip-Tree-Beauty-Moth

Looks like a Tulip Tree Beauty Moth (https://www.insectidentification.org/insect-description.php?identification=Tulip-Tree-Beauty-Moth) to me.

[Eichhörnchen]

^

Thanks, Sean - you surely identified that correctly and it seems to be another one not listed here in the UK

[Shadowblade]

I just dont like kitchen moths, because they destroy my food.

[Aktungbby]

I just dont like kitchen moths, because they destroy my food....from which the English laguage derived the hyphenated expression: 'moth-eaten'. :arrgh!::Kaleun_Goofy::Kaleun_Party:

[Eichhörnchen]

I wonder how STEED is getting on theses days :hmmm:

[Shadowblade]

...from which the English laguage derived the hyphenated expression: 'moth-eaten'. :arrgh!::Kaleun_Goofy::Kaleun_Party:


it is more like moth-infested than moth-eaten - food is still there but it is full of webs and worms.

Plus English is not my native language, more like primary gaming language :03:

[Aktungbby]

...you could change your sig's name to: Kaleun Vlad von Motten Zerfressen!:O::Kaleun_Salute::Kaleun_Salivating:

[Catfish]

I wonder how STEED is getting on theses days :hmmm:
Well this thread is about moths and bugs.. you think of a connection? 🤔
🤡
OT I just learned we have american invaders in our attic..

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_conifer_seed_bug

This Leptoglossus occidentalis is a sneaky US immigrant, but unlike his fellow human countrymen it is more or less harmless or so i heard

[Eichhörnchen]

https://i.imgur.com/kcmHWSA.jpeg

Moira just showed me this cinnabar moth larva she found on some Oxford ragwort growing on the drive. She says they prefer this ragwort to the more common kind with the feathery leaves (she knows her plants much better than I do)

[ET2SN]

No pics (sorry) but I spotted a Luna moth chilling out next to an entry light for my building. :yeah: Maybe a 3-4 inch wing span. They are pretty rare in this part of Iowa.

[Aktungbby]

In Minnesota we got Luna Moths: here's one at about the right size ! https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e6/Actias_luna_female_sjh.JPG/1024px-Actias_luna_female_sjh.JPG

Luna moths can be found in Florida as well I've seen a few there over the years that fight be as far south as they go.


No pics (sorry) but I spotted a Luna moth chilling out next to an entry light for my building. :yeah: Maybe a 3-4 inch wing span. They are pretty rare in this part of Iowa. welcome to the :subsim: "I've seen a luna moth's" fraternal order! Now, like the thread title says, we don't talk about it!:arrgh!::Kaleun_Salute:

[August]

Found this little guy on our kitchen wall last night.



Haploa Clymene, otherwise known as the "Blessing Moth".


https://i.imgur.com/zIo5Dv4.jpg

[Eichhörnchen]

^ Thanks for this truly startling photo, mate - we don't have this amazing creature here in the UK, but it's so obviously well-named. Looking just like a clergyman in his vestments he's just a bit - well - goose-bumply!

[August]

^ Thanks for this truly startling photo, mate - we don't have this amazing creature here in the UK, but it's so obviously well-named. Looking just like a clergyman in his vestments he's just a bit - well - goose-bumply!

Some say that it's only a blessing if you see him like that. If he's turned the other way it means that the Devil is after you.

I looked again this morning and it was gone. It might be hiding out somewhere in the house or one of the cats or the dog might have eaten it but as I said i've lived in this region (nearly) all my life and i have never seen one of those before last night!

[Eichhörnchen]

Moira looked it up - we supposed there would be some folklore attached to it. She said it looks like an angel.

That's a great photo anyway - I'm not finding anything to take pictures of atm

[August]

Found flitting around the yard up at my cabin this past weekend.


White Admiral

Limenitis arthemis


https://i.imgur.com/lEgUgxLh.jpg

[Eichhörnchen]

Very similar to our own British race: https://i.imgur.com/G0ZzX6v.jpeg (not my photo)

Our White Admiral is a strictly woodland insect, fast flying and difficult to follow. Some have a very faint trace of red in a couple of the hind wing spots but nothing near this much. We'd never hope to see one in the garden here - only out in the countryside.

Thanks for posting, August - it's great for me to see what you guys have found and photographed, rather than looking at pictures in books :Kaleun_Thumbs_Up:

[August]

Here's one I saw the other day that I haven't been able to identify. Maybe you'll know:


https://i.imgur.com/3BJfcwLl.jpg

[Aktungbby]

I believe that is the One Dotted Dart moth: Abrigotis Magnicupda. "Found in Massachusetts to Eastern Missouri". The pointy head and antennae seem to match.

[August]

I believe that is the One Dotted Dart moth: Abrigotis Magnicupda. "Found in Massachusetts to Eastern Missouri". The pointy head and antennae seem to match.


You could be right although the brown spots look a bit different.


You know what else it might be?


Angle Shade Moth
Euplexia benesimilis

[Sean C]

Saw this guy in my yard the other day. I think it's a Red-spotted Purple Admiral (https://www.insectidentification.org/insect-description.php?identification=Red-Spotted-Purple-Admiral).

https://i.imgur.com/RC3u5SR.jpeg

[Rockstar]

Moth humor


https://i.ibb.co/KGwNYv4/IMG-0383.jpg

[Eichhörnchen]

^ :har:

@ August - I'm sorry for the late reply but I've been away. Yes that is indeed an "Angle Shades" moth, a common but still nice looking thing; your version looks exacly like ours

@ Sean C - we were completely gobsmacked by this creature! It must be the most beautiful butterly I've ever laid eyes on and would certainly be a prize for any insect hunter over here, if we only had them. I'm going to look this one up online to learn more (is it common, has it a fixed habitat, caterpillar & foodplant etc) as I have no books for American insects. Thanks for such a fabulous photo, mate :yeah: Edit: Just noticed your link - thanks a lot for that!

[Sean C]

@ Sean C - we were completely gobsmacked by this creature! It must be the most beautiful butterfly I've ever laid eyes on and would certainly be a prize for any insect hunter over here, if we only had them.


It certainly is a beautiful creature. That's why it caught my eye. Here is a link (https://imgur.com/K9PyWs6) to a full resolution version of the photo.


When I made my last post, the thought occurred to me: this thread is essentially our own collection, that we share. With the added bonus of not harming them. Thank you for starting it! :yeah:

[Eichhörnchen]

^ Thanks again, Sean. Over here entomology has always been one of those studies which draw the enthusiastic amateur - and with their nets they were often the ones to make the most important discoveries. But now most have put away their nets and taken up the camera instead. The excitement of what you might find is still there, also (perhaps to a lesser degree than before) the thrill of the chase; I was to be seen running to and fro in a meadow a while back because I'd suddenly stumbled upon my first live Clouded Yellow sucking on a dandelion - but he was off like lightning and I never got the photo - he was too fast.

The solitary pastime of setting a capture - which used to be the culmination of the hobby - is now gone and the pleasure in producing and owning a carefully prepared specimen gone with it. It was an art which gave great satisfaction at the end of the day and the end of the hunt but I couldn't in all conscience do it now

So what you say is true: we can have our own collection here, although in recent times there's been a nosedive in numbers of butterflies, at any rate (I don't know about moths) so I don't seem able to find as much as I ought to post