IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Princes Parade, High Street, POTTERS BAR, EN6 5AE

An evening view of the High Street which is surprisingly quiet for a Saturday night - I guess everyone is in the pub or at home watching the FA Cup quarter finals! This view is from outside the Cask and Stillage public house.

An evening view of the High Street looking from outside the Cask and Stillage public house towards the junction with Mutton Lane and Southgate Road.

The street is View Road in Potters Bar, the picture was taken from offices overlooking it.

This fine specimen found its way into our offices, so I took a few photos of him before finding a shady spot for him outside. For a view of his "face" see Image] I have referred to this moth as "him" but not only may it be "her" it could even be "him and her" as apparently "Gynandromorphs" (half male, half female) are common in this species. Photo of its caterpillar here Image] (by Mick Lobb) See shared description below.

A frontal view of a Poplar Hawkmoth (Laothoe populi) that had found its way into our offices. See also Image] for a top view. See also the shared description below for more information on this species. Photo of its caterpillar here Image] (by Mick Lobb)

This fluffy little fellow had entered our building and was snoozing on the ceiling at first, he then fluttered to near my desk where I took this shot. He is an example of a group of moths called Prominents, because (I believe) of the little ridges and bumps on their backs where the wings meet. The closest match that I can find for him (or her) is a Pale Prominent (Pterostoma palpina) ( Cf http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?bf=2011 ) though all examples that I have found on the web lack both the dark diagonal band (which was actually more noticeable than this photo suggests) and the tiny white "eyes" on black lozenges towards the rear. Perhaps it is a subspecies or simply a variant.

Continuing the occasional series dedicated to moths that find their way into our office, we have here the Buff Tip (Phalera bucephala) The circular cream tips to its forewings from which it gets its name, combined with the mottled streaky brown colouration of the rest of its wings make it accurately resemble a broken twig when viewed from the side. The illusion is not quite so convincing in this top view, possibly because I think this specimen may have gone a little bald and lost some of the little hairs from its head, which is now showing up brown rather than cream. Regardless of this however, if this moth was resting on a twig, I think it would certainly be very well camouflaged even so. Many moths rest with their wings folded along the length of their bodies in a "tent" or "roof" as seen in this example. See also Image] where the underwings are partly revealed.