It’s not often that I manage to see both the adult and larva of a moth species, and I’ve seen both of these this year for the first time, the adult appearing first, on 1 May, and the larva more recently, on 4 September. These are Nut-tree tussocks (Colocasia coryli) and both, I think, are stunning.

The adult and larva were in completely different locations, many miles apart, the adult roosting for the day on the side of a stucco-covered building, the larva sitting underneath a willow leaf. Both locations are atypical, according to the information about this species on the UK Moths website, which states that this moth mostly frequents woodland, and the larvae ‘feed on a variety of deciduous trees, mostly Birch and Hazel, but also Sycamore, Hornbeam, Oak and others’.

In southern Britain, these moths are bivoltine; the adult moths can be seen between April and June and then again between July and September. In the north, the moth has a single brood, the adults on the wing in May and June.