I've got a lavender hedge growing next to my conservatory, which comes very handy to do a daily bumblebee count. Tonight, while inside, I noticed a few silver Y moths feeding on the lavender and everlasting pea flowers which grow amongst the lavender. I went outside and more moths were feeding on the buddleias. As migratory moths, taking advantage of warm winters in high latitudes, silver Y numbers fluctuate a lot from year to year. This has been a warm summer and there are many of them around. When not resting, these moths are a flurry of activity, almost never stopping on the flower, and constantly vibrating their wings. Without using a flash, they are often a blurr, with it, they look like they are frozen in space. I had no choice but to use a flash, as it was too cloudy and dark, and the photos were taken trough glass. So here are my first night photos of the silver Y.
Inserting its large proboscis on a lavender flower.
Caught in flight between flowers. This is a migrating species, found mainly from July to September.
Atop a lavender spike.
Several were feeding on the buddleia high up.
A silver Y resting next to the tomatoes earlier in the day.
Someone once told me he thought these were the ugliest butterflies ever. Can't really argue with that, but they still make me smile. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI find them fascinating, and I should write a blog about their bat evasion abilities. They are really tricky to get close too when I am outside, they notice me and fly away. My being inside and shooting through glass really helped.
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