Moth On A Stick

Sticks hold an unbreakable fascination for wildlife photographers. The easiest way to tell if Short-eared Owls or Kingfishers are around is to look for the sticks togs have driven into the ground as perches. So it is with moths - moth on a stick is a Lepidopteran classic. I picked up this nice lichen-covered dead stick on the way home from work so I thought I'd give it a go. The geometry of sticks works in favour of the photographer - frisky moth runs to the end of the stick, runs out of stick and if it's not warm enough to take off, bingo. However, in my initial extensive trials with one moth, I did get the impression that the moth was a bit calmer on a natural substrate (not that I suspect this species spends a lot of time on lichen-covered sticks) than on a flat surface like graph paper. So expect to see more moths (and other animals) on sticks around here. 


Bright-line Brown-eye, Lacanobia oleracea. 

Sony ILCE-7RM2
FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS
f16 1/200 ISO 100