Early Thorn

I ran my garden Moth trap during the evening of 20/03/09, and managed quite a good catch for this time of the year. The list was as follows: Small Quaker = 6 Common Quaker = 1 Hebrew Character = 1 Early Thorn = 1

The star moth of the evening was the Early Thorn Selenia dentaria as shown above. Although this is a common species, this was the first time I have recorded it in my garden. There are several different species of British thorns, but this one can easily be identified by the resting positions of the wings. It resembles a butterfly with its wings held up over its back and pressed together.