Fiery Clearwing

I noticed this lovely little day flying moth busy in the back garden yesterday. It was so busy, and there is so much material stored by the roofers in the garden that I had a lot of difficulty photographing it.

Fiery Clearwing Pyropteron chrysidiformis (la Sésie de l'oseille in French) like open, sunny places, and the caterpillars live in the roots of dock Rumex spp plants, and indeed this was the plant the moth was most interested in, so I assume it was laying eggs. Obviously, the fact that it found a dock plant in the garden means that the garden needs weeding, but now of course I have a dilemma. Clearwing moths are uncommon, this one especially, and it seems a shame to uproot the food supply for the next generation. Perhaps I will just have to cut it off periodically.


Susan