Mother Shipton moth

I was out with the Wakefield Naturalists’s Society today for the first of the summer field meetings and we had a good trip to Hetchell Woods near Thorner. As a group, we notched up some good sightings including marsh harrier and red kite passing over and also a hornet – not a common species locally. The shot of the day for me though, was this Mother Shipton moth, a fairly common, day flying spring moth but not one I have photographed before. It gets its name from the markings on the wings which have the appearance of a witch with hooked nose and chin. Mother Shipton was a witch in Yorkshire folklore.