Beautiful patterns

On Tuesday night when the temperature here remained just about in double figures, I recorded the highest number of species for mid-May since I started recording in my garden (27 species). Three of the most beautifully-patterned are shown below (although not colourful, I couldn't resist putting in the famous Peppered moth).

 Flame Carpet

 Maiden's Blush

 Peppered moth

 Phtheochroa rugosana

Following on from the comments on Mark Griffith's post, you will see that I photograph the moths in a 'formal' setup, as others, but on a photographers' grey card so that the colour balance can be corrected for differences in lighting (especially useful when moths will not settle to be photographed and inevitably the light changes).  Of course you will not see the same colours as me, unless your monitor has been colour calibrated, but at least the photos should all have a comparable grey background.  I never freeze moths, but sometimes they try my patience sorely (in my relatively short experience, the worst for this have been Red Twin-spot Carpets). 

John Thacker

Harwell, Oxon