Dancersend

By Dancersend

You can't see me!

I had a work party at the nature reserve today, carrying out further scrub clearance and coppicing to extend the habitat for the threatened Duke of Burgundy butterfly. One of the volunteers called me over as she had spotted this lovely Satellite moth amongst the leaves. It is a relatively common species and one we catch at light traps, but I've not seen one during the day doing what it has to do as it overwinters as an adult. Its camouflage colour and pattern was stunning seen against these leaves. If it wasn't for the white kidney spot and small satellite spots alongside (hence the name) I don't think we would have seen it. In many specimens these spots are more creamy orange or orange-brown and I wonder if they escape predation better than the ones with bright white spots.

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