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| Winter Moth (Operophtera brumata) |
November has gone and December is here - and just one moth to show for it? And which species is it that has appeared at the kitchen window?
Driving home from York gives a fair indication of whether there is any moth activity, but each time a few fluttering ghosts have been seen the trap has been set and nothing has been recorded. The nights have been cold and cloudless on many evenings over the last month and a half and the combination is not good for moth-trapping. Maybe the fogginess of the scientific name is what brought this moth to the window.
This Winter Moth is not absolutely identifiable from the photograph alone. The species has been recorded as a possibility in 2011 and 2013 - but the size of the two or three examples was the only indicator.
I will look on the apple trees this evening to see if any of the flightless females are to be found. I saw a cluster on the switchback ride to Hovingham a couple of years ago and there were males and females in plenty.
