Currant Clearwing Moth

Synanthedon tipuliformis, on a redcurrant leaf.

This beautiful moth is yet another pest gifted to us from the Old World. Its caterpillars bore into the stems of currants and gooseberries, causing considerable damage. It probably arrived in somebody's treasured cuttings.

Sorry it's yet another insect. I was too tired to look for anything else.

Another hot day. The outdoor temperature at 4.15 am was 16º C. It just got hotter, until late afternoon when a southerly front struck. It was one of the wildest, loudest fronts I have experienced. We are sheltered from the south by a line of hills. It must have been ferocious out on the Plains.