Glittery

This female Currant Clearwing looks to me as if she's wearing a skin-tight sequinned evening dress and an extravagantly fringed shawl. Butterfly Conservation lists the species as Nationally Scarce, and dressed like that, I'm not surprised - when the light hit her, she was probably visible from space. 

Less flippantly, the recent increased use of pheromone lures by moth enthusiasts has led to a marked uptick in records of the Currant Clearwing and other clearwing moths, and it's therefore coming to be assumed that they were previously under-reported. Because it's relatively small, with a wingspan of only about 2cm, I've seen this one described as being especially easy to overlook - which I suppose it might be on a very dull day, or if you happened to be wearing sunglasses - but it's now thought that it's widely distributed across England and Wales, and is present in many gardens and allotments where redcurrants or blackcurrants are grown.

Spotting this glittery creature was the absolute highlight of the several hours I spent in the garden today, trying to bring a measure of order to the chaos. Have I ever mentioned the extent to which I hate gardening? Yes - I thought I probably had.

R: C2, D12