Wednesday 4 September 2019

My second Clifden

Catches are starting to get more autumnal now in Wolvercote, Oxfordshire, with plenty of Large Yellow Underwings and Square-spot Rustics, though as yet not many of the classic autumn species, sallows and the like. However, some excitement this morning when I realised my second ever garden Clifden Nonpareil had shown up: not in the trap, but clinging to an old trampoline beside it, where I very nearly didn't spot it.

My previous one was in mid-October last year, and although very pleasing, was quite a battered specimen. This one was more or less pristine, and although I suppose it could be a migrant, I'd have thought it's likelier to have originated quite locally. When I let it go, it flew off strongly, so large that you'd take it to be a small bat or bird rather than a moth. A lovely beast.

Clifden Nonpareil, 3/9/19 - in its original position
Clifden Nonpareil, 3/9/19
Clifden Nonpareil, 3/9/19
Steve Goddard


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