Another longhorn

Green Long-horn (Adela reaumurella)

A week ago, I'd never heard of a long-horn moth. Saturday, I found the second species for the garden! This male Green Long-horn (Adela reaumurella) has even more outrageous antennae than the Meadow Long-horn did; it's like the Texas Longhorn of moths. Add the fact that those antennae are white and waving madly, and you have some pretty extreme eye-catchers. Like its cousin, this little moth is a day-flyer. It's a bit bigger at 7-9mm (up to 1/3 of an inch), and its antennae are a whopping three times its body length. (The female's are slightly shorter.) Its wings are a dark, metallic green, sometimes with a flash of gold near the leading edge. The body and legs are black, and very, very fuzzy. This male was dancing over the leaves of our New Zealand Broadleaf (Griselinia littoralis), chasing everything that passed (none of which were the appropriate females). Luckily, he's got another few weeks to look for some – their flight period is from April through June. It appears to be a bit of good luck that I spotted him; they're normally found in woodland, heathland, marshes, bogs and scrub. Courting Green Long-horns are typically attracted to oaks and hazels, neither of which we have in the garden. However, it's a common species across England and Wales, and I guess the local hedgerows might count as scrub. It's local in Scotland and a few scattered parts of Ireland. The larval food plant is unknown. Another new one for the list!