Tuesday 7 July 2015

Moth to the Flame - Thunder

At the merest suggestion of perhaps not having enough time to Post more of the weekend's Moth pictures, the weather sets in with sporadic bouts of heavy rain showers and here we are snuggled up in Slight Return II. The very thought of all these 'billions' of creatures procreating all around us and the fact they I am lucky enough to be guided to much of it, turns me to the lyrics of the Led Zeppelin classic, which is tattooed on the back-end of my home,
Oh let the sun beat down upon my face, stars that fill my dream
I am a traveler of both time and space, to be where I have been
To sit with elders of the gentle race, this world has seldom seen
They talk of days for which they sit and wait, and all will be revealed
The World seldom seen in this case is that of the Insects, and while he is much younger I feel Dave will forgive me for the analogy of being the 'Elder' in this instance.
But firstly a quick update.
 As ever one of the juvenile 
 ROBIN
was laying in wait at the Stable Moth Trap despite the heavy downpour,
but later up at the Solar Panel Compound
other things were stirring.
There were no fewer than c7 
 LITTLE RINGED PLOVER
there this morning
 and as can be seen the one above is just slightly more 'advanced'
than the other (what we have been describing as the runt).
Runt or not they are now both undertaking much longer flights
but never far away from the watchful eye of the c2
 Parent Birds.
The 'Usurper' is still in attendance, and still trying to win the favours
of the Mother of the Chicks, but in addition there have appeared c2
New Adult Birds.
 We still maintain that there is another breeding site close at hand
but stillas yet undiscovered - and of course it's getting late!
Also overlooked in the past week or so are c2 more juvenile
 LAPWING
 which are in close attendance with the previously discovered c2
unless this is a creche? Comments please. 
LAPWING CLIPS
SO DOWN TO THE NITTY GRITTY
complete with introductory track 'remastered' by
Thunder in 2005.
Moth to the Flame Link
Like all life forms it is often unbelievable that
 THESE
can turn into 
 THIS
FOX MOTH
and many of his kind. These eggs were found in one of the traps but
all others contained herein were found by Dave Foot.
 LEOPARD MOTH
 and one day this LARVAE
 will develope into a
 BROAD-BORDERED BEE HAWK-MOTH
FESTOON
PEACH BLOSSOM
LEAST CARPET
 BUFF ARCHES
 SATIN WAVE
BORDERED BEAUTY
DWARF CREAM WAVE
 SWALLOW-TAILED MOTH
 The Migrant
GEM
JULY HIGHFLYER
SCALLOP SHELL
 This big bruiser is a
 LOBSTER MOTH
 CREAM-BORDERED GREEN PEA
 Up until this weekend Janet was the only person around here ever
to have captured
 BUTTONED SNOUT
a 'hibernator' which flew from firewood on
16 February 2014. It was a quick sprint (woo, feel a little faint) over
to Harbins kitchen to redress the deficit.
 LARVAE
on
 the food plant
BELL HEATHER
of
BEAUTIFUL YELLOW UNDERWING
which is also a most 'tiny' creature.
 FANFOOT
It is doubtful that those before us who 'named' these Insects visited the dictionary, flipped open a page wrote down the first word they noticed, coupled it with Moth and that was that. However, like many of the inquisitive among us it is often wondered just how these names derive. Over the weekend we caught quite a number of these and at one point it was noticed that they have a relatively large 'paddle' (Fan) at the outer end of the forelegs. This Dave pointed out is from where the name derived. Just to divert for a moment and share a similar experience many years before while visiting the Portland Bird Observatory I ventured to ask how my personal favourite Moth name came about?
 HEBREW CHARACTER
(not caught over the weekend and not my favoured Moth name)
 likely originating from the Yiddish letter 'chaf' כ
it also forms part of my favoured name
SETACEOUS HEBREW CHARACTER
'setaceous' meaning 'bristle-like or shape.
 MOTTLED RUSTIC
SILKY WAINSCOT
EAR MOTH
 SMALL DOTTED BUFF
 SUSPECTED
DINGY SHEARS
GREY ARCHES
 an omission from yesterday's Post was another
First for our Recording Area
BROOM MOTH
 The family Wainscot can be confusing as on first inspection they
all look the same! No matter how many inspections I undertake,
they all look the same, so was chuffed to have correctly ID'ed these two.
 STRIPED WAINSCOT
 and
 SOUTHERN WAINSCOT
and so not to leave the
MICROS
out, this little beauty is
 PYRAUSTA PURPURALIS
the Norfolf Moth Website also tells me it has a vernacular name of
COMMON PURPLE and GOLD

While movin' through Kashmir - Link
From the "we'll never, ever play together at the O2 Arena in 2005 
which in my humble opinion is
THE DEFINITIVE 
rendition of this magical composition. 
Note:- Bonzo's nipper Jason on the drum stool (as good as his dad?).
Cor, watching that again has made me go all Solar Plexus!
Reminds me of the Best 60th Birthday I ever had and generated a few memories.
It's some friend who takes you to
 LYON
for your 60th Birthday,
 buys you a couple of Beers
 then pretends he's going somewhere else but takes you to the
 Théâtres Antiques de Fourvière


to see the startling
 STRANGE SENSATION
fronted by
Robert Plant


The sky was Bible black in Lyon
When I met the Magdalene
She was paralyzed in a streetlight
She refused to give her name
And a ring of violet bruises
They were pinned upon her arm.
Two hundred francs for sanctuary and she led me by the hand
To a room of dancing shadows where all the heartache disappears
And from glowing tongues of candles I heard her whisper in my ear
"'J'entend ton coeur"
I can hear your heart

Finds you a young Fräulein (that's what they call them in France)
 and then one for himself
 The Lyon Flower Lady
and a nice bottle of Mineral Water before going home.
In respect of the man who first introduced himself to me thus
"I'm Surgeon Commander Pickle RN, VD and Scar but you can call me Branston"
I've been in a Pickle ever since
here's to you and Er Indoors Skinny Kid
I'm now going to have a drop of that 'red' Swearing Juice 
you used to force me to drink out of that big 'bowl glass'
Slàinte Mhath
to ALL our readers especially Daryl and Cath who it seems have been playing
Mummies and Daddies
CONGRATULATIONS!
Memories are Made of This
see what happens when you mention Zeppelin?
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