Moths

There is one advantage of the dull and dismal weather we have today, it has kept me in the house. That and slipping on my Glutinous Maxima. I took one step outside and down I went on my butt. I had just put on a clean pair of Jeans too, well they were clean. Over night a hard frost had frozen the melting snow, so I sprinkled a little salt to ensure that my neighbours did not suffer the same fate.

Thus I decided that I would stay home and get on with other tasks and this included getting more of the video footage archived. After the delays due to camera and computer problems, I am making good progress, I now only have three hours of back log to sort out.

However before I could do that I had a report to finish off. While I was doing that I noticed one of the Red Kites at the horizon then it disappeared from my view. I kept on working for the next twenty minutes or so, as I finished off what I was doing I picked up the binoculars to watch a Mistle Thrush that keeps on visiting my yard. Suddenly it gave an alarm call and it and the other birds on my feeders flew off. As I looked to see what had disturbed them a Red Kite flew right past my window, eight to ten feet away and under the telephone lines. As it did it dropped something, rushing down stairs I grabbed the Camera but by the time I had unlocked the back door the Kite was gone. I saw what it had dropped though it was the shoulder blade of a rabbit. Red Kites eat on the wing and that had been its last snack and I am left wondering if the Kite had seen its next meal. Anyway, what a wonderful sight. I am so lucky.

With my spirits boosted by that sight, I got on with sorting out the video clips. I now have 48 DVDs containing over one thousand clips of usable footage. So while it can be mundane and at times tedious to file them away properly, unless I did that I would never find anything for latter use.

Anyway two films for you today, one is of quite a rare plume moth, Agdistis bennetii. I say rare it was until recently. It was infrequently seen in the south of England but over recent years with climate change it has extended its range further north. I understand that the first confirmed sighting in the area was only made in 2002. However what pleases me about this footage was that I was able to film it unfurl its proboscis to feed and while not as clear as I would have liked you can see that. The other moth is quite a common moth, often called a sack moth, but as there is another species with that common name I am just using the Latin name, Anthopila fabriciana.

While I know that many people don't like moths, personally I love them and they are just so beautiful.

Agdistis bennetii

Anthophila fabriciana