Thursday June 1

Just about still in May, a small moth flew into our bathroom last night and was duly captured.

I realised it was a Pug species straight away, and hoped it would look more impressive in the morning. It always amazes me how the natural light of the morning outperforms our bright bathroom lights. Insects look totally different next day.

This Pug was far more patterned than I had imagined, and had a greyish-green hue. This didn't necessarily mean that I could identify it. After skimming through the books and Internet images I had several species in mind, but decided to refer it to a higher authority.

Mike took a while to respond and concurred that it was a tricky one. However, he suggested it was a Green Pug, which was at least one of the Pugs I had been considering. Like many moths Green Pugs can show a considerable colour range, in this case from obviously green to barely green at all.

Green Pug

Also this morning I watched two Magpies baiting one of the local tom cats for about five minutes before the moggy ran off with very little dignity preserved. The Magpies were later seen carrying food and clearly have a recently fledged juvenile to protect.

I also saw a juvenile Blackbird and my first juvenile House Sparrow of the season in the garden.

This afternoon I caught a couple of familiar micros in the house, Psychoides filicivora, and a Brown House Moth.

Brown House Moth

Psychoides filicivora