Feathered Thorn

Feathered Thorn, Colotois pennaria.  Geometer.  By the moth trap in Hayes, 13 November 2011.

I am still putting out my moth trap every few days. Sometimes there is nothing, but there is always the possibility of finding a winter-flying moth (not to be confused with the actual Winter Moth, Operophtera brumata).

The Feathered Thorn is particularly pretty. I saw one at Farthing Downs only a couple of days before this one turned up; this is fresher and prettier.  Only the male has those feathery antennae.  It was on the side of my garden seat, next the moth trap, rather than in it, but was certainly attracted by the light of the trap.  It's quite a common moth, which turns out often to be the case with these creatures that fly unseen. The caterpillar can eat the leaves of almost all the local trees, including the hawthorns I have planted in my tiny garden, and the adult moth flies from mid-September to early December.

Only when I was processing the photo did I notice the minute beetles crawling around the cracks in the wood! They are visible in this photo only as shiny almost-black specks, some alone, some grouped in the crevices.

The photo below is the specimen I saw at Farthing Downs.

Feathered Thorn, Colotois pennaria.  Geometer.  Moth trap at Farthing Downs, 10 November 2011.