Science?

Two unintended experiments here at Thrupp, Oxon. I was delayed in putting out the Robinson trap 'til 11.30pm, a couple of hours later than the current norm. This appears to have had no effect on either the size or the variety of the catch, the second in a row to top 200 with a rich variety of species.

Secondly, the need to find better a better photograph backdrop than camera-confusing black plastic led me to move one newcomer - a very pretty Marbled Coronet - from the bulb collar and thus I was able to watch its waking process from start to flight, a process which took 96 seconds and involved wing exercises which started slowly, accelerated and then slowed down again before take-off. The apparent moth law, The Fatter they are the Slower they Wake, seems partially suspended in current warmer and lighter conditions. It's no longer just the Carpets, Pugs and Micros which are too skittish for me to carry helpful instructions to find a better posing place than an eggbox.

Here's the other newcomer: a Grass Rivulet to add to other examples of this delightful little scrap which have been posted here.  Martin Wainwright