This week's moth - the Angle Shades - is one that you can see in any month of the year in most of the UK, so you might even see one today, resting on a wall or fence. However, it is most common between April and November.
When I saw my first one, shortly after I had started moth-trapping, in Southall (west London), I got really excited because I thought I had caught a Hawk-moth and it took me a while to work out what it actually was. The caterpillars feed on a variety of common plants including Stinging Nettle, Red Valerian, Broad-leaved Dock, Brambles and Oak trees, which probably explains why it is so widespread. Interestingly, and a bit mysteriously considering that grasses don't produce nectar, the adult moths often come to feed at the flowers of Common Reed and other grasses. The most likely explanation for this is that they eat the pollen. Many insects do this and in fact, while researching for this blog I learned a new word - Palynivore - a herbivorous animal which selectively eats the nutrient-rich pollen of plants. So it is a pollen-eater and therefore the opposite of a 'pollinator' (although it might accidentally pollinate some flowers while it is eating the pollen of others).
The colouration and the unusual shape of the folded wings mean that it is very well camouflaged when it is hiding in dead vegetation during the day-time (although, as I said above, it does sometimes rest out in the open which surely must make it a tempting target for insectivorous birds).
The scientific name is Phlogophora meticulosa, which, if my attempt at etymology is anything to go by, means "Fearful Flame-bearer". I love the name Angle Shades but I think Fearful Flame-bearer is better.
The individual in the photo above is one that I caught in my garden moth-trap on the 22nd of April 2020 and I let it go after photographing it.
[P.S. I wrote about the Angle Shades once before in this blog - you can read that post here Two Moths]
Thanks colin
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