Hi there,
Yes, a very slow start here this year too, but here is an oddity from last night near Chesham. I imagine it must be one of the Chestnuts, but I'm confused by the dark diagonal marks, which don't seem to help ID it as anything! Can anyone help, please?
David Dennis
Hi David,
ReplyDeleteThat's either Chestnut or Dark Chestnut, probably the latter although difficult to be 100% sure. The markings do vary quite a bit on both species and you have rather a striking example there. The darker lines might originally have partially or maybe completely circled the oval and kidney marks but, along with the rest of the moth, they have become rather worn with age. Remember that it will have been around since last October, so it is now quite elderly in moth terms and will have had plenty of opportunities to suffer damage and lose scales.