Scarce Umber

Scarce Umber, Agriops aurantiaria. Male. Geometer.  Moth trap in Hayes, 18 November 2011.

Soon after I saw the Feathered Thorn shown in the previous post, this Scarce Umber turned up. (Despite its name, it is reasonably common.)  Like the Thorn, it wasn't actually in the trap; it was resting against the outside, in an unusual pose with its wings fully open.

The Feathered Thorn was a lively creature; I tried to calm it down by putting it into the fridge for a couple of hours, but it was still flapping, so I couldn't persuade it to pose and I only got the single position, on the bench where it was when I found it. It was in danger of damaging its wings, so I let it go.

This moth, on the other hand, was quite suggestible, and I took half a dozen different pics, including one on a fern which is close to the trap.

The open wing is shown below. You might also see that I have painted the moth trap white. This will serve several purposes. It will last longer, and survive being caught in the rain; it will be easier to see small creatures resting or crawling on it; it might reflect more light and be more attractive to insects; and I won't be bringing a horde of almost invisible beetles back into the garage (see the Feathered Thorn post)!

I will also add a head-on view that shows the antennae (and has the usual effect of making it look cross-eyed. That's an illusion, of course). The female of this species is wingless and stays on the tree; it is the feathery-antennaed male that does the flying around.