First moth ‘watch’ of the year

Not everyone knows it but moths come in a rich variety of sizes and colours (and not all of them are the clothes-eating type!). Depending on the time of year, it is a real treat to get a glimpse of them in the garden. See, for instance, this stunning specimen, a Lime Hawk-moth spotted recently in the early evening:

Late spring usually marks the start of ‘mothing season’ – the best time to spot them. To that end, sister Nicola sets up a friendly moth ‘trap’ that is a specially designed box with a light that attracts moths during the night.

In the early morning we venture out into the garden where the box was left overnight and have a gentle look to see what kind of moths have landed inside. We then carefully release them back to the surrounding vegetation, making sure there are no little birdy predators in sight!

Moths can be found almost anywhere although some species are only found in certain places or near specific types of plant (in fact a lot of flowers that attract butterflies also attract moths!) and the greatest variety tends to peak in the summer.

According to the Butterfly Conservation website the population of moths far outnumber that of butterflies but studies have revealed that the overall number of moths has decreased by 28% since 1968. This decrease has worrying implications for the rest of our wildlife, the site says, as “moths and their caterpillars are important food items for many other species, including amphibians, small mammals, bats and many bird species.”

Below is the result, in pictures, of our first mothing of the year:

• A nut tree tussock moth, fairly common throughout Britain
• Purple thorn moth, more commonly found in southern England and Wales
• We think one of them (6th picture) may be a Brindled pug moth, fairly common in Britain
• Hebrew Character moth, commonly found in the UK
• Great Prominent moth, mainly found in the south of Britain
• Muslin moth, common in most of Britain