Green-Brindled Crescent

Green-Brindled Crescent, Allophyes oxyacanthae.  A Noctuid.
Moth trap at Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve, 23 October 2011.

A late Autumn moth, flying from September to November, after which it overwinters as an egg laid on twigs of scrubby trees and shrubs.  I saw this one at Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve, where Susanna Clerici, one of the wardens, sometimes puts out a trap.

The scattering of metallic green scales is an obvious feature. Less obvious to me, until the book pointed it out, is the way the bright crescents on the inner sides of the forewings make a shape like a recurved bow. The book describes it as a crossbow, but it makes me think of something used by a Parthian horseman; a small but powerful bow made of horn and sinew.

After I had taken photos on gridded paper for my record, I took a shot on my hand, from a low angle, showing the antennae and the ruff at its neck.  I then put it on the ground, where it looks magnificent among the autumnal litter.

Green-Brindled Crescent, Allophyes oxyacanthae.  Noctuid.  Moth trap at Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve, 23 October 2011.