Moth Morning
August 2024
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Early on the morning of Saturday 3rd August, Tim Norriss arrived to check the two Mercury Vapour Light traps that he had set the previous evening in Sue Taylor’s garden close to the Abbey Green. There were more than twenty of us there to see which night flying moths he had trapped. Many of us can identify common butterflies but we are much more ignorant about moths.
Tim was the County Moth Recorder for Hampshire for many years. He has been trapping moths since 1991 and we were all astounded at his knowledge. We learned so much – firstly about the two main groups of moths: the Geometers that generally hold their wings open and the Noctrids that hold theirs over their bodies in a tent shape. There are over 2500 species of moth in the UK and Tim has noted 700 species in his own Hampshire garden. As Tim gently extracted moths from the safety of the eggboxes that he had placed within the traps, for them to hide, he identified them and passed them around, many in the safety of small transparent containers, so we could clearly see the beautiful detail of their wings and antennae. Of course there were many LBJs (little brown jobs) which appeared indistinguishable to most of us, but were given their proper names by Tim, including the Common Rustic and Square-spot Rustic. He identified around 60 species from the two traps. At the end of our session, all the moths were released to find shelter until their next feeding foray that evening.
The naming of moths owes much to the Victorian era when names such as Rosy and Dingy Footman, Canary-shouldered Thorn, Double-striped Pug, Sallow Kitten, Vine’s Rustic , Blair’s Mocha and many more were identified. Nowadays, moths are not generally named after their discoverer! Moths are found in all habitats from mountains to the coast. We learnt much about the food sources of many moths, such as the beautiful Mother of Pearl, so perfectly named for the sheen on its wings, which feeds on nettles; there are lichen feeders whose larvae graze at night on our walls, trees and fences; there’s one species of Footman that is only found on the coast at Hurst in Hampshire, whose larvae hide under stones, and the Sand Dart whose larvae live in the sand, feed on tideline plants after dark and pupate in the sand in October. 
Poplar hawk-moth
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One of the more impressive moths found in Tim’s trap was the Jersey Tiger, which began to colonise the Isle of Wight 30 years ago, moving northwards from the Continent. This is a day flying moth, which is now much more common as a result of our warming climate and is well established in Hampshire and has been found as far north as Yorkshire. The adults can be found nectaring on Hemp-agrimony by day but this is also one of the foodplants of the larvae.
 Elephant Hawk-moth
Privet hawk moth
Blood-vein
Apart from ranges increasing northwards as a result of climate change, moths have been able to adapt to the colours of their surroundings in their attempts to avoid predation by birds. In the twentieth century, the Scientist Kettlewell studied the Peppered Moth, which has both a light and a dark form, and suggested that pollution caused the variation. He found that predation by birds was greater on the lighter coloured moths in dark polluted built up areas of Birmingham, whilst the reverse was true in the woodlands of Dorset where the light-coloured moths thrived and the darker ones were more heavily predated. This hypothesis was attacked by Creationists in the USA but has been proved correct.
Moths’ predators are mainly birds for the day flying moths and bats for the night flyers, though foxes have been seen jumping to eat moths too. Some moth species, such as Kettlewell’s Peppered Moths, rely on camouflage for protection; either their colour matches their habitat, or they have eye patterns on their wings to scare off predators, whilst others have warning colours as they are poisonous. As well as moths travelling north with our warming climate, there are also many immigrant moths from further afield which have become residents here. The adventive Light Brown Apple Moth Epiphyas postvittana is one of the commonest moths here now, with a wide range of food sources, but it originated in Australia and arrived here first in 1936 in cargo. Blair’s Mocha is a beautiful soft coffee coloured moth which arrived from Europe and is also spreading here. The Box Moth, however, is a cautionary tale of how much damage imported moths can do – twenty years ago Tim was asked to look at some larvae feeding on box plants imported from the Far East. This was the first time these larvae had been found in England and now, as many of you will sadly know from your own experience, the Box Moth is ubiquitous in our country and causes much devastation. However, it is very beautiful! Another moth that can be problematic is the Wax Moth, which will feed on the wax in beehives and causes problems for beekeepers who must be on their guard and check hives regularly as the larvae can cause so much damage. We found two species of hawk moths – the Elephant Hawk-moth and the Poplar Hawk-moth, both large and beautiful and easy to recognise as moths. Others have very different forms, some tiny moths having a T-shape with their wings furled up. So we had a fascinating couple of hours and everyone learned so much about moths. Sadly, we also learned that moths are threatened by the continuing widespread use of pesticides, both in our gardens and more widely in farming. Not only are insects such as moths killed by these pesticides but their food sources, often what we call weeds, are being eliminated from vast areas. It would be wonderful if we could follow the example of the French who have banned the use of pesticides on all public land….. Report written by Kate Allen Photos: Donna Hutson |