"The Night Visitors"

The weather is warming...
slowly...
v..e...r....y....
slowly.
Too slowly for things "potager"-wise....

But it is bringing out the moths...
and Monday night we had two lovely visitors...
firstly a few pictures of the Giant Peacock Moth [Saturnia pyri] Grand-Paon-de-nuit.
We had them around, around this time last year, so keep your eyes open local folks... or those further south... as Susan pointed out to me last year, these are really on the Northerly edge of their range...

The cat can't believe it!!
Another one, just like last year...
she then asked to go outside...
but, on sniffing the air, decided not!!

Most definitely a male... just look at those "comb-like" antennae... but, read on...

"She's" probably pumping out pheromones... hoping a male will be downwind...
how far downwind I know not... but with the size of those wings...
he might well be many miles away and still reach her...
despite not being able to feed.

Normally it is the male that has the feathery antennae to detect the female's pheromones... but as "he" was still here this morning... and warming up too fast in the morning sunlight [yes... sunlight, folks]... I moved it into a more shaded position... and noticed that "she" had the big, rounded, bulbous body of a female... so, she-he... I'm now not sure...

A cuddly moth?

Or just plain strokeable???

Or... is it an alien??

It is trying to get in!!!

Hope it hasn't got a glasscutter!!!!

The other visitor was equally striking....
a Cream-spot Tiger [Arctia villica / Epicallia villica] Écaille villageoise
We get five different species of Tiger here... Garden, Jersey, Scarlet and Ruby being the other four.
But the Scarlet is the rarest and the Cream-spot follows close behind... this is only the third "known" visit.

Posing with a sloughed snakeskin... but keeping well out of the way of the Black & White moth-muncher anyway!!

Here the striking orange hindwings are being flashed...

... and now the bright scarlet body... these colours are to warn predators that...
"I don't really taste very nice... so go and eat something else... please!!"

I managed to catch this one and get it outside... but it came back to the window...

How's this for a striking colour display?!

and yesterday morning it was still on the front step so I managed to get a few shots of it without using the flash...

Handsome from the side isn't he...

But I'm not sure what he can hide on wearing this jacket!!

He was right where a foot was likely to smear him all over the front step, so I carefully moved him to the ground at the side and managed this final shot into the bargain!

Camouflaged? I think not... perhaps that is why the warning colours are so striking??

A mainly "Picture Post".... but I've tried to put in some relevant information as well...san
and  Susan says it has another trick up its sleeve... an anti-bat sonic avoidance technique...