The Common-Clay

obscure moth

As you can see from this photograph taken in the bug box, this is a small moth, just 16 or 17 millimetres long.
As you can see from this photograph taken in the bug box, this is a small moth, just 16 or 17 millimetres long.

I’VE FOUND some striking looking moths in the light trap in recent weeks but I thought that it was time to turn my attention to the commoner but obscure species that I generally ignore.

obscure mothI’ve been thinking of this moth as a ‘clay’, as it resembles a variable little moth called the ingrailed clay but there are probably a dozen other noctuid moths in the field guide that are possibilities.

Drawing it from one of the photographs I took is my attempt to take in its markings; most prominent of which, or should I say the least obscure, are the kidney-shaped marking and the adjacent oval on each of its forewings but most noctuid moths have these.

As usual, any suggestions as to its identity would be very welcome.

2 comments

  1. It is great to see the results of the moth trap, and worth the effort to make it. The moths add a whole new dimension to your natural history drawing, and thinks maybe i should make one for myself. Or you could come up to Grange for a visit and bring the trap with you and find out what moths we have.

    1. It’s been working well, so thank you again for putting it together. After getting on for 15 years of writing about my home patch the moth-trap suddenly gives me loads of fresh subjects to draw and thanks to the field guides illustrated by Richard Lewington it’s now possible to identify them – well most of them!
      Thank you for the invitation, hope we can get over for a couple of days in August. If we put one of the back seats down we might even be able to bring the moth-trap with us!

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