Death's Head Hawk Moth Beastie of Doom

[Caberfeidh]

Yesterday we were visited by the Death's Head Hawk Moth Beastie of Doom, an eldritch portent of doom which was somehow fluttering around in the midst of the North Sea. HMS Caberfeidh is currently in the Forties field, way out from land. It was flying around the bridge wing, so big I thought it was a bird. It's about the size of my hand. The skull markings in the back are bad enough, it's probably got a swastika on its forehead.

Death's Head Hawk Moth Beastie of Doom

[rohan]

Do you have many tattie fields aboard HMS Caberfeidh? That's where it usually likes to hang out and it quite likes deadly nightshade as well. Foreby all that....amazing.

[steviesea]

Wow! I didn't realise they existed this side of the pond. Not that surprising though, considering my only knowledge of them is from watching silence of the lambs Doh!!! Think I'd have been nervously glancing over my shoulder for a while, seeing as it's the harbinger of doom

[Caberfeidh]

It is strange to find one far out to sea; we were near an oil production platform, so it may have come from a crate of fruit or veg on there. HMS Caberfeidh is painted bright red so the moth may have mistaken us for an enormous flower. The sight of a gang of big burly oil men screaming in terror and running for their lives when I showed the eldritch creature to them in the telly room was hilarious. Or would have been if I was not amongst them, gibbering in fright as it made its escape from the plastic tub I had it in. The moth is now in its tub in the sickbay, feasting on melon slices and waiting until we dock in Lerwick on Thursday, when I will unleash the Harbinger of Doom upon the unsuspecting people of Shetland. Mwa~ha~ha~ha....

[CharlesT]

Fine beastie! The caterpillars are something else too!

[Caberfeidh]

Fine beastie! The caterpillars are something else too!

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That's just bizarre! I saw another moth today, and we are miles away from the first place, so maybe we are in the path of some moth-migration route.

[Caberfeidh]

Today we docked in Lerwick so the Beastie of Doom has been released into the wilds of a sheep pasture, with plenty of flowering clover and other plants, so I hope it does ok. It made a weird squeaking sound as I tipped it out of the box, but it seemed happy enough, if one can judge lepidoptera, crawling into the grass and basking in the sun.

Goth Moth

Harbinger of Lepidoptera#1

[CharlesT]

Let's hope it now fulfils its life destiny and finds a mate. Much credit for rescuing it from a watery doom.

[Caberfeidh]

Still, best beware of eldritch portents around the Shetland area for the time being...

Eldritch Portents...

[CharlesT]

I learn that they can emit a chirp like a mouse squeak when annoyed or to deter predators. Possibly yours was cross at being imprisoned, even with good intention, and let you know about it. Along with the markings on the thorax its ability to emit sound was an additional aspect of their being regarded with suspicion in earlier days -agents of Lucifer perhaps.

They also raid bees nests and hives for the honey and remain unmolested as they mimic the smell of bees. Clever creatures, indeed.

[CharlesT]

And in poetry too...

"No, no, go not to Lethe, neither twist
Wolf's-bane, tight-rooted, for its poisonous wine;
Nor suffer thy pale forehead to be kiss'd
By nightshade, ruby grape of Proserpine;
Make not your rosary of yew-berries,
Nor let the beetle, nor the death-moth be
Your mournful Psyche, nor the downy owl
A partner in your sorrow's mysteries;
For shade to shade will come too drowsily,
And drown the wakeful anguish of the soul "

[rohan]

This is the NBN recorded distribution:
https://species.nbnatlas.org/species/NBNSYS0000006064

[RocksRock]

The distribution map referenced above suggests that the beastie may have friends to greet it! Caberfeidh, did you perchance hear celebrations?

[Caberfeidh]

The distribution map referenced above suggests that the beastie may have friends to greet it! Caberfeidh, did you perchance hear celebrations?

Yes, there were a whole pack of them dressed as vikings and carrying flaming torches in a parade through Lerwick ~ the Up Helly-A of the Moth World was happening! But no, he just basked in the sun. I'm sure the Goth Moth of Doom will home in on others of his/her kind by pheremone as usual.

[Caberfeidh]

It seems like the first and third photo are alike the only differece is the fact that photos are captures on different season.

Whit?