Thursday, August 1, 2013

"Tiger, tiger, in the night!"

Of all of our UK moth families, the Tiger Moths get the prize for sporting the most dramatic colours...and it's always thrilling to examine the moth trap in the morning, turn over an egg-box, and find yourself looking at one of these:

Not a great photo, but this was one of 4 Jersey Tiger moths this morning, my first of the year.

There was also a single Garden Tiger.....

...and a smaller, more delicate Ruby Tiger.

I did have a Cream-spot Tiger visit my humble little garden a few weeks ago. I can't find the photo I took, but I've got this poor image taken under the MV glare during our 'Search For the Isle Of Wight Wave' back on 7th July.

And here's a Wood Tiger that I found down the road on Afton Down last year - if you look closely you can see that it's actually coupled with a mate!

I never thought I would find so many Tigers living hereabouts on the West Wight. Now, a visit from the Isle of Wight's first Scarlet Tiger would be nice......