Sulphur Tubic

A day at home for me, entering yesterday's data and trying to arrange access for next week's surveys - plus a bit of food shopping. This field season is probably going to be the busiest I've had, but sadly other chores still have to be done!

My photography was confined to the garden, where the flowers of Alexanders are providing sustenance to many species, including this very attractive micromoth - known as the Sulphur Tubic Esperia sulphurella. It took me a while to identify it as this very fresh specimen was much more strongly marked than the illustration in the id guide! 

It's a fairly frequent moth of woodland, hedgerows and gardens which flies during the day in May and June. The larvae feed on decaying wood, tree bark, rotting fence posts, as well as decaying hard fungus - all of which are in plentiful supply in our garden!