Moth of the Moment – Plumed Fan-foot

After I light up, mothically speaking, I usually have a scout about the garden for moths that are activating as it gets dark but not necessarily heading for the trap. I almost stepped on a Pipistrelle bat swooping low to grab one of the little creatures. I got to the ivy at the back of the garden and spotted a Yellow Shell and a couple of Least Carpet nectaring on the nearby wild ragwort. Then, a dark moth was caught in the torchlight. I managed to pot him as he landed, turned out it was a Plumed Fan-foot, Pechipogo plumigeralis, one of the Herminiinae, or litter moths. The feathery plumes that are its antennae are indicative of the male. It’s not a moth I’ve seen before. It’s superficially a little like The Snout moth, mostly brown with some subtle markings and incredibly protuberant palps. If you are curious as to what palps are when it comes to Lepidoptera, check out my mothing glossary. The Plumed Fan-foot was a rare migrant to the south-east coast of England first recorded there…