Moon Moth

It rained a lot yesterday and when I came back from work, unusually both my wife and son came up, grabbed an arm each and dragged me onto the balcony. Wondering what I'd done this time and whether I had any useful excuses available, I didn't notice at first that they were pointing up. Then I saw it. A Japanese Moon Moth as big as my open hand fastened to the ceiling! It must have dived in to escape the previous nights rain.

I've seen these a few times, usually after heavy summer rains which tend to damage their wings if they're caught without shelter. They only appear around July ~ August and rarely last more than a week in their moth form. This is because they don't have functioning mouth parts so cannot eat. The short time they exist is just long enough to find a partner and mate. Beautiful creatures and we were honored to see one on our balcony :)

Mothra Returns

Went for the first long bicycle ride of the year with Professor Ewan a couple of days ago. We found a large moth on a tree by accident as we were looking around. I say by accident, because it was very difficult to spot as it was perfectly camoflaged, having the same color and pattern as the tree. It seemed to be watching a bundle of small blue eggs which I'm guessing will hatch as soon as the weather gets warmer. It'll be interesting to see what comes out, but we'll have to get the timing right.

Mothra with her brood of millions........!

Went back again this morning. Still no action on the eggs but the moths wings are starting to tear. It was very windy yesterday, perhaps that's the reason. Am guessing this is a kind of hawk moth, but I'm really not sure.