The Magic of Moths

“Butterflies are beautiful but moths are boring”. This is the common perception of moths but how wrong we can be!   The first photograph Patrick Clement showed the Malvern local group on Thursday night was of the emperor moth, bluish-grey on the forewings with bands of white, black and orange, yellow on the underwings, and brilliant black, yellow and blue eyespots on all four wings.

Admittedly, there are some rather boring brown jobs among the moth family, including the clothes moths which are never popular! However, many common moths are very attractive indeed and have equally beautiful names: brimstone, green silver lines, small elephant hawk, lilac beauty, clouded silver, large emerald. All these moths are attracted to lights and can easily be caught in a moth trap. Traps come in various designs but are basically a bright light over a box with a narrow opening; the moths enter the opening and can’t find the way out, so they can be studied the next morning and then released. A treacle mixture smeared on a tree will also attract certain types of moth.

Elephant Hawk-Moth (c) Rosemary Winnall

 All moths and butterflies are Lepidoptera; wings covered with scales being one shared characteristic. It is commonly thought that all moths are nocturnal, but in fact there are many day-flying moths, like the chimney sweeper, humming-bird hawk moth and scarlet tiger. There are about 2,500 species of Lepidoptera in the UK but fewer than 60 of these are butterflies. There are 900 species of macro moth and 1,400 micro moths, some of which can only be distinguished by dissection of the genitalia. In the UK, butterflies have a club tip to their antennae, whereas moths generally have feathered antennae or a simple hair-like structure with no club tip.

Patrick Clement had many stunning photos of rare moths, secretive females with no wings, parasitised caterpillars, micro moths with amazing colours and a few surprises like the barn owl sitting on a moth trap. Even the leaf miners were fascinating, with each species leaving different mine patterns. The evening was a wonderful insight into an under-appreciated world.

The next meeting of the Malvern local group is at 7.30 pm on October 4^th at Malvern Evangelical Church when we can't wait to hear John Robinson will talk about the Natural History of the Wyre Forest. 

Alison Uren, Malvern local group

Madagascan Wildlife

The island of Madagascar was the subject of a fascinating illustrated talk recently given by Phred Newbury to the Malvern local group. 

Madagascar is two and a half times the size of the British Isles and is the fourth largest island in the world.  It has been inhabited for only 2000 years by people believed to be of Indonesian descent. The island encompasses rainforests in the east and deciduous dry forests in the west separated by a high plateau. Looking at a map, it is clear that Madagascar would fit to the east coast of Africa like a jigsaw piece and it is thought that it broke away from Africa some 160 million years ago. As in Australia, this has led to the evolution of different animals and birds and many of the island’s species are found only in Madagascar. A good example is the Fossa, a large mammalian, nocturnal carnivore. New species continue to be discovered there.

The lemur is unique to Madagascar, where there are around 90 species. In Africa, lemurs were predated by monkeys and apes - they survived in Madagascar where there are no monkeys or apes. Even now they are hunted for food by humans despite being an endangered species.

Phred travelled over much of the island but her main objective was to visit the small, undeveloped island of Nosy Mangabe in the far north east of Madagascar in the hope of seeing Aye Aye Lemurs which are relatively safe there. Stephen Fry and Mark Cardwadine had failed to find these rare primates in the television programme Last Chance to See; Phred was very fortunate to see one of these amazing creatures only a short distance from her tent.

Phred supports Durrell, a wildlife conservation trust which was established by Gerald Durrell the writer who founded Jersey zoo. The trust’s mission is to save species from extinction and much of its work is carried out in Madagascar where it attempts to raise awareness of the importance of conservation amongst local people. She showed many excellent Durrell photographs of animals, birds, lizards, plants and insects which are endemic to Madagascar.

Our next indoor meeting will be held on Thursday 1st March when Rachel Salisbury will give an illustrated talk entitled The Conservation Garden. The meeting starts at 7.30 pm at the Chase Academy Sixth Form Annexe, Geraldine Close, Barnards Green WR14 3PF and we'd love to see you there.

Derek, Malvern local group