A silent visitor to our garden on a very hot afternoon, a Scarlet Tiger moth. There’s a tiny glimpse of the moth’s glorious scarlet inner wings just visible at the base of the centre line.
Its Latin name, Callimorpha Dominula, could be translated as ‘beautiful shaped little mistress’. It’s a day-flying moth and one of the few tiger moths with mouthparts, as it needs to feed as an adult. Most other tiger moths never feed, surviving on fat stored when they were larvae. None of which I knew before writing this post!
Fountain pen and water-brush with Lexington grey ink, watercolour, A6
