Moths are AMAZING!
Orange and yellow ghost moth.
If you’d asked me to describe a moth last week, I’d’ve probably told you that moths are dull brown (or browny-grey) butterfly type things that come in three sizes: tiny, normal and kinda scary.
But since Saturday, I’ve been regaling anyone who’ll listen with stories about moths. Most of the stories go like this: “It’s black and white/pink and green/black and red/orange and yellow/green and silver/bronze/black and yellow and it looks like a broken twig/art/bird poo/bark/a bee/Cruella de Vil/a leaf and it’s AMAZING! Moths are AMAZING!”
But since Saturday, I’ve been regaling anyone who’ll listen with stories about moths. Most of the stories go like this: “It’s black and white/pink and green/black and red/orange and yellow/green and silver/bronze/black and yellow and it looks like a broken twig/art/bird poo/bark/a bee/Cruella de Vil/a leaf and it’s AMAZING! Moths are AMAZING!”
Delicately patterned black and white puss moth with gold tracing.
Before last week, I imagined moth trapping was a hobby for people who joined some kind of wildlife club, got vetted on the sly, then received an exclusive invitation from the Splendid Worshipful Guild of Lepidopterists to join them for an intense evening of moth identification, complete with specialist equipment and a secretary with a large book for recording species. Or, on a totally different scale, I thought it was a thing kids did with a torch and a sheet in their back gardens, where the identification always amounted to, “I guess it’s one of the medium sized brown ones.”
But on Saturday morning, I was fortunate enough to be invited up to Pestalozzi near Sedlescombe, East Sussex, where Dave Green had set out three moth traps the night before. When we walked in, Dave was balancing a broken silver birch twig on his finger. Only . . . the twig was in fact a moth. A buff-tip moth. At once, I was intrigued. I can’t remember ever seeing such fantastic camouflage. I was also impressed with its hair-do!
But on Saturday morning, I was fortunate enough to be invited up to Pestalozzi near Sedlescombe, East Sussex, where Dave Green had set out three moth traps the night before. When we walked in, Dave was balancing a broken silver birch twig on his finger. Only . . . the twig was in fact a moth. A buff-tip moth. At once, I was intrigued. I can’t remember ever seeing such fantastic camouflage. I was also impressed with its hair-do!
 Buff-tip moth. |  Buff-tip moth. |  Buff-tip moth - check the hair! |
Dave, who is a Trustee of Sussex Wildlife Trust and committee member of the Sussex Moth Group, had a few interesting moths ready for us to look at while we ate our breakfast. The cinnabar moth is a black moth with bright red stripes and spots, on the smaller side of medium, presumably named after the red mineral.
Black and red cinnabar moth.
The maiden’s blush moth is a small, creamy coloured moth with rouged-cheek-like spots on the upper wings and a thin line across both wings. Lots of moths were named by the Victorians, said Dave, and they quite sensibly gave them descriptive, easy to remember titles. Dave also had an elephant hawk-moth to show us. This was definitely a crowd pleaser: a big, olive green and pink (yes, pink!) moth with white trimmings. Hawk moths are known as speedsters of the moth world, with bodies and wings optimised for rapid flight.
Olive green and bright pink elephant hawk-moth.
Breakfast over, we went to check the three traps. They’d been set out the night before: one in long grass at the edge of a wildflower field, one in shorter grass near some brambles and trees and the last on a footpath in woodland. The aim was to catch a wide variety of species. Each moth has evolved to feed on a particular range of vegetation (as a moth and a caterpillar) and other foods (as a caterpillar), while many have also evolved a camouflage specific to a certain environment.
The peppered moth has an interesting story to tell in terms of camouflage and natural selection. Before the industrial revolution, most of these medium sized moths were speckled black and white. From the industrial revolution, pollution from coal smoke and other sources turned many of the trees and habitats of these moths black; those moths with more white on them were more visible and more likely to be predated. By the end of the 1800s, almost all of these moths - at least around industrial cities - were completely black. Nowadays, the peppered moth has mostly returned to a paler, speckled state.
The peppered moth has an interesting story to tell in terms of camouflage and natural selection. Before the industrial revolution, most of these medium sized moths were speckled black and white. From the industrial revolution, pollution from coal smoke and other sources turned many of the trees and habitats of these moths black; those moths with more white on them were more visible and more likely to be predated. By the end of the 1800s, almost all of these moths - at least around industrial cities - were completely black. Nowadays, the peppered moth has mostly returned to a paler, speckled state.
Black and white speckled peppered moth - I think!
The poplar hawk-moth, as well as looking like leaves, bark or weathered wood, has another trick up its sleeve. (Not that moths wear clothes.) (Having said that, this was a very fuzzy creature, so it looked a bit like it had a jumper on.) This large moth rests with its bottom wings held further forward than the top wings, breaking up its moth-shape so it doesn’t attract the attention of predators. This was one of my favourite moths, probably because it was so placid and sat on my finger for ages. I’d like a pet one, thank you.
 My friend the poplar hawk-moth. |  Poplar hawk-moth showing strange wing position. |
Another favourite of mine was the fabulous white ermine moth. It’s a medium sized white moth with black spots on its wings and it looks as though it’s wearing a huge, fluffy, white fur stole. (Fake fur, of course.) As my partner said, it resembled Cruella de Vil.
 White ermine moth (foreground). |  White ermine or Cruella de Vil moth. |
Most of the moths I photographed - and most of the ones we talked about - are what’s known as macro moths. That is, they’re big(ish). There are hundreds of larger moth species in the UK, but Dave noted that there are thousands of species of micro moth - probably including some that haven’t been recorded. One of the younger moth enthusiasts at the moth trapping event was a bit hesitant to hold the larger moths, so started out small with a tiny moth. We also found a micro moth with ridiculously long antennae.
 Micro moth on a finger. |  Micro moth (right) with huge antennae. |
Many of the nocturnal moth species were reluctant to move, let alone fly away. They just want to sleep, OK?! But moths like to crawl forward to higher levels, so to move them from one hand to the next, the receiver would place their fingers in front of the moth, slightly higher, and give the moth a gentle nudge on the end of the tail. I’m not sure that would work so well with the moths that roll over and play dead when they feel threatened, though.
Green moth with brown and white details - blotched emerald.
I could go on for ages (I have gone on for ages!) about all the moths we saw in the traps: silver-white green moths, bright grass-green moths, striped green moths, shimmering green and bronze moths; a number of other elephant hawk-moths and cinnabar moths; moths camouflaged to look like bird poo (no moth predator eats bird poo) or flowers; the astonishingly bright yellow and orange ghost moth; the scorched wing moth; the lobster, puss and kitten moths. Instead, I will simply reiterate: moths are AMAZING!
 Green silver-lines moth. |  Bronze and pink angle shades moth. |  Some kind of ridiculous moth! |
I recommend you check out moth groups in your area and give moth trapping a go. In this area, the Sussex Wildlife Trust has an event in July, or the Sussex Moth Group has stacks of outings over summer and into autumn (though I think you need to become a member for the royal sum of £5). If you go trapping, please post loads of photos of AMAZING moths for me to look at! (You should save your questions about (a) why moths are attracted to light and (b) what the difference is between moths and butterflies for the experts.)
RSS Feed
