Saturday, 29 October 2016

Micro Moth

I was watching a bee busily collecting pollen from an Autumn Crocus flower when I noticed a small dark triangle move. I had a feeling it must be a moth and a bit of research showed it was a micro moth, Anthophila fabriciana known as Nettle-tap:

Micro moth - Anthophila fabriciana - Nettle-tap

Micro moth - Anthophila fabriciana - Nettle-tap

Micro moth - Anthophila fabriciana - Nettle-tap

Although descriptions say they have a 10-15 mm wingspan, presumably when in flight, as this one crept from pollen grain to pollen grain around the petals I would estimate that it was about 5-6 mm across. I also managed to take a bit of video:



These are said to be very common daytime flying moths which are active from May to October.

Background sounds include the bee I was originally watching and various whistles and clicks from nearby Starlings.

5 comments:

  1. You got some nice crisp shots of that little moth, John.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wilma: It's always hit and miss on close shots with the pocket Nikon as it only has auto focus so I takes lots and hope.

      Delete
  2. That's a great little spot, great shots too

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  3. Exquisite flower - ours have been over for weeks.
    Pretty little moth - I have moth phobia, so that is about as large a moth as I can tolerate.

    ReplyDelete
  4. tiny thing. we still have a lot of butterfly activity here. guess one last push for autumn.

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Thank you for visiting. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. Any comment, or correction to any information or identification I get wrong, is most welcome. John

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