Moth

A couple of moths have been spotted lately.  One which was familiar to me and the other, a completely new species for my 'tick list'.
The first and familiar species was seen yesterday, fluttering around the Knapweed flowers around Straw's Bridge. Not able to get a good view of it at the time, I simply pushed my camera lens through the undergrowth and snapped a picture to identify later.  It turned out to be a Silver Y (Autographa gamma).  A common species of moth and one which can often be seen flying in daylight, they can produce more than one generation per year, so numbers are always fairly good.  The only downside, is that they are well camouflaged and so rather difficult to spot.

On the way back home a couple of days ago, Malcolm spotted a caterpillar squirming its way across the path.  Small, colourful and vary hairy (the caterpillar, not Malcolm) this little stunner turned out to be a species new to me, The Sycamore (Acronicta aceris).  again, a common species, but the adult moth is very plain and easy to overlook, but the caterpillar is something else.

Getting away from the moths, we have been delighted to see that Bumble Bee numbers seem to be pretty good this year, no doubt taking advantage of the unusually large number of wild flowers.  This one - I think Bombus terrestris - was very busy with the Purple Loosestrife flowers.