Longhorn moths' dances curtailed by breezy weather

 Over the last couple of weeks I've seen a lot of these male yellow-barred longhorn moths, which have extraordinarily long antennae. They are at their most fascinating when the males congregate and perform aerial dances to impress females, rising and falling in the air, as if attached to invisible bungee cords. 

This one was resting on a bramble leaf in Backstone Bank wood, in the Tunstall valley in Weardale, where I suspect the breeze blowing through the trees prevented it from dancing. Those long antennae make the insects aerodynamically unstable on windy days, but do allow them to detect the scent of females, which have shorter antennae, from a long distance.

Longhorn moths

Last week Mark Cocker wrote a fascinating Guardian Country Diary about the yellow-barred longhorn moth Nemophora degeerella  (click here to read his piece). 

By a lucky coincidence, when we visited my eldest son and his partner today their garden at Winlaton Mill near Blaydon was home to a small swarm of these little moths with amazingly long antennae. 

Part of the charm of these moths lies in their courtship 'dances' when they flutter, hover and weave from side to side waving this outsized antennae. It's the moth equivalent of Saturday Night Fever, or maybe a break-dancing contest. They put on a stunning performance this lunchtime - must try to capture it on video next time.