It's always a treat to have one of these in the trap, a Longhorn Micro, in this case Nematopogon Metaxella. But why do they have these extraordinary appendages. Can anyone enlighten me?
Meanwhile, here's a good tip from a friend on dealing with predatory birds. Apologies if you are familiar with it, but it was new to me. I received it with extra warmth because my first Light Emerald of 2014 was dismembered by a bird which reached it before me, as you can see. Here we go: Because of the marauding robin problem, we ended up buying what is called our 'mothing basket'. This is a lidded wicker affair whose lid is left slightly ajar to allow moth egress but absolutely no birdy predators in. We pop the be-mothed egg boxes in there straight from the trap. Most moths leave of their own accord once darkness has fallen... best wishes from the home of overengineered solutions. Martin Wainwright, Thrupp, Oxon.
How did you decide it was metaxella?
ReplyDeleteHi Peter and apols for the delay over the w/e. I originally took this to be Nemophora metallica from a closer-up pic which is on my own blog - www.martinsmoths.blogspot.com - along with a closer up pi. But from the latter, Ben Sale of Essex moths made the metaxella ID and he has a fine track record of correcting my blunders accurately.
ReplyDeleteDo you have views on reasons for the extraordinarily long antennae btw?
all best
M