Three Beauties and a Cutie

Yellow Shell, Camptogramma bilineata.  In my garden light trap on 23 August 2015.

The weather has been very mixed recently, but I had a very good moth night a few days ago.  Some of them are quite lovely.  These three beauties are not at all rare and anyone could see them quite easily.

The Yellow Shell's pattern varies in the darkness and intensity of its bands of colour.  This is one of the lighter variations.  You can see this moth in the daytime too.

Light Emerald, Campaea margaritata.  In my garden light trap on 23 August 2015.

The Light Emerald is also easy to find.  Its colour fades quite rapidly, often the case with green moths, so it was nice to see the clear contrast with the reddish fringe on this specimen.

Oak Hooktip, Watsonalla binaria.  In my garden light trap on 23 August 2015.

I keep wanting to type "Watsonella" for the name of thie Oak Hooktip, but no, it has a second a.  The deep honey tones are an excellent sight.  It's more or less the same size and shape as the first two, but from a different family; Drepanidae rather than Geometridae.

And the cutie of the post's title is this:

Ectoedemia decentella.  In my garden light trap on 23 August 2015.

Only just over 3mm long, and mostly coloured the same as the egg carton it was sitting on, it would have been easy to overlook.  Its caterpillars eat Sycamore seeds, among other things, and with several Sycamores just over my garden fence, this is not the first time I have had this tiny think in my trap.

Of course, this is from a different family again; Nepticulidae.