16th May 2012

My final female Emperor moth emerged a couple of days ago and despite time and weather conditions being far from ideal (late afternoon, windy and cool) I put her outside in the hope of attracting a wild male. The brush structure protruding from the abdomen (1st picture) showed she was 'displaying' and around 45 minutes later a male finally appeared. It bumbled around in the garden for 15 minutes before I lost patience, netted him and placed him next to the female - mating started immediately (2nd picture). The result is in the 3rd picture!