Hedya salicella

Micro moths can be, and often are, overlooked. They can be too small, too numerous and too alike. But we are lucky nowadays as there are many sources of reference that are added to each and every day, both in print and particularly on-line. Digital photography has enabled the most modest of budgets to produce crystal-clear and detailed images of the moths, not only to be used as an immediate tool to identify the species but also to add to this reference body. It still takes effort to build up a working knowledge of them and not all are identifiable on external features alone, but most can be. Above is Hedya salicella, which is quite distinctive and fairly straight forward to identify (so I am led to believe!). If it were the size of a Large Yellow Underwing then it would be celebrated, but its modest size relegates it somewhat. This individual appeared in the garden MV trap this morning and, although a common moth, it is the first that I've recorded. I'm rather taken with it, especially those chocolate-brown tufts on the thorax!