Painfully slow but at last the Emperor strikes! Last night I set the trap up as it was quite mild and cloudy and the temperature looked to hold up at least for the first part of the night, but by the morning it was a little cool and clear and I was like 'where are the moths?' There were just two moths! One in the trap and one on the fence, that was it.

Often this is a slow period as we shift from Spring to early Summer and the Orthosia species drop off, and every year it nearly grinds to a halt with just the odd moth to save me from the dreaded blank.

Double-striped Pug was the moth on the fence and in the trap was a new for year Rustic Shoulder-knot.

But...better things were to happen this afternoon, I thought I'd just pop the Emperor moth pheromone lure out in the garden whilst I did some gardening in the vain attempt of actually attracting one and blow me down, it worked! Within 5 minutes I was up and down the garden with my net trying to catch it.

He was very lively indeed with his antennae flickering and we popped him in a large food tub in the kitchen to let him settle down then it was back outside on the grass for a very quick photoshoot and off he zoomed over our back fence.