As I’ve mentioned before, my living situation doesn’t lend itself to having a moth trap but there is a local site where I often see moths if I’m out walking in the early mornings. As you can see from the photo below, a streetlight (red arrow) sits above a footpath between two blocks of terraced houses. The light attracts the moths, which then sometimes shelter on the walls (blue arrows) during the day.

As well as the Early grey and Early thorn found back in 2018, I’ve since discovered several more beautiful moths on these walls. The first three, seen last year, are Mottled umber (Erannis defoliaria), the Peppered moth (Biston betularia), and the Winter moth (Operophtera brumata) – you might remember I blogged about the larva of this last moth earlier in the year (Caterpillar in a tent, May 2021).

These next two are more recent sightings, both spotted in the past month. The first is Small dusty wave (Idaea seriata), the second Large ranunculus (Polymixis flavicincta).