It`s easy to get confused....

It`s easy to get confused - the state of mind rather than the moth (which is rather scarce and local in Carms). I`m referring to my inability yesterday to determine a rustic shoulder-knot from the North Dock, Llanelli site, just to give a recent example. I`d recorded this species only a week or so earlier (on 15/5) at Tyrwaun, when i/d was `plain sailing`.
I suppose what fooled me most about the North Dock example was its greyness which, `in the flesh` was even greyer than the photo shown yesterday (see yesterday`s blog), whereas the one I had from Tyrwaun (shown below) was sandier in general colouring. Once on the wrong track (and having dismissed what it really is), it is really easy to reach a `dead end`.

This Tyrwaun rustic shoulder-knot looked like the one illustrated by Richard Lewington in the `Concise Guide to the Moths of GB and Ireland` and also the one in the superb photographic guide by Chris Manley`s `British Moths and Butterflies`. I usually look in the former book first as the size of the moths is represented, but the latter book is `a must` at times, as it can lead you to the right determination with its excellent photos - sometimes illustrations are inferior to photos.