9th October 2013

Rained all night but was very mild with a southerly wind. The moth trap was full of flies of various sorts, a few common moths and then I noticed something that stopped me in my tracks. It was a male Four-spotted Footman. This moth has not been seen in the county since 1969 and there are very few records. It is a migrant. The female is pure buff but with two black spots on each wing - hence the name. We get a lot of Footman moths here but this one is a third bigger than any of those. Interestingly I had an email from a recorder in Wolverhampton to say that he too had caught one last night.