Freshly Emerged Female White Satin Moth

This image was taken locally at Ainsdale LNR where the White Satin (Leucoma salicis) moth feeds, mates and lays eggs on the dwarf willow scrub around dune slacks. It is the glossy surface of the wing that gives rise to the English name. It is classed as local moth but may be found in good numbers where it does occur such as here at Ainsdale. This image depicts a female that has not long emerged and has now climbed higher into the vegetation to pump its wings up and dry them. They are weak flyers and will not stray to far from this location, often mating within a few metres of where they emerge here at Ainsdale where you can also see all life stages at times in one day. Once ready she will emit pheromones to attract a male. This was taken with my Pentax K3 and sigma 70mm macro lens, f5.0 1/100sec, ISO 400 hand held.

FreshlyEmergedFemaleWhiteSatinMothRKHill