Lead-coloured Drab

Garden moth counts since the beginning of the month have been around half a dozen each time and that's exactly what I got here last night.  Lead-coloured Drab was the first new adult species for the year-list since Oak Beauty on 20th February.  Two of them turned up, while the other four moths comprised Dotted Border (3) & Hebrew Character (1), all of which had arrived by 10pm.

Lead-coloured Drab, Westcott 5th March

Lead-coloured Drab, Westcott 5th March

Neither Lead-coloured Drab was particularly well marked but that's fairly typical for the species.  Both were males so had the most obvious feature to distinguish them from Clouded Drab:  antennae which appear visibly "feathered" to the naked eye.  Other clues are their size as well as the rounded wing-tips (both features similar to Common Quaker).  The lighter specimen at the top also has the hint of some small black wedges in the outer cross-line which can sometimes be quite prominent.   

As yet, the weather is showing little sign of warming up and we seem to be in for another particularly cold patch over the next few days so I'm not expecting much more moth activity until the weekend.

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks