Plume Moth

Tuesday, 22nd March 2005
Wild West Yorkshire nature diary

This plume moth has been resting on the glass panel of the back door, it's wings held at right angles to it's body, neatly stowed away. When it flies, as it did this morning, off across the patio, it reveals a bigger surface area of wing. It has a feathery comb along the back of each of its four wings.

Some plume moths have multiple wings as you can see on the Garden Safari link below. This is probably a moth that has overwintered as an adult so, if it's a female, it will now be laying eggs.

Mouse-busters

At one stage I kept the ground feeder raised up on a plastic water butt stand to keep it out of the reach of marauding mice and voles. I then I decided we could do without the stand, provided that I hung the feeder out of reach overnight. I'm wrong: this morning - in the broad daylight - I notice a wood mouse rushing to and fro, raiding the feeder.

I move the feeder to the middle of the lawn, where the pheasants find it soon enough but where it's too far out in the open - I hope - for the mouse to reach it.

I try to draw the mouse from memory but it's difficult to get the proportion of head to body right, or get the right shape for the head. I'll have to draw it next time I see it. The wood mouse - sometimes known as the long-tailed fieldmouse - has white underparts which give it the appearance that it's wearing long white socks as it scurries across the patio. The underparts of the house mouse are only slightly lighter than the rest of its brownish grey fur.

Related Link

Weird-winged Micro Moths at Garden Safari

Richard Bell, richard@willowisland.co.uk