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

Moth News!

It was a cold evening at the end of August for our last trapping session of 2010 - as is usual in late summer the number of moths trapped falls away. We none the less trapped 132 moths of about 36 species using six 125mv, one 15w actinic skinner and sugaring a few trees. Some records are still to come in and some species to be confirmed.

Three moths were new for the site: willow ermine Yponomeuta rorrella, Ypsolopha parenthesella and frosted orange Gortyna flavago. Good moths for the site included crescent Celaena leucostigma, pale eggar Trichlura crateagi, and bullrush wainscot Nonagria typhae.

I mentioned last time that as part of the wider Lepodoptera project we have been monitoring butterflies and that the area in the Education Reserve around the Upton (Rabbit) 'Warren' was turning out to be particularly interesting. A day time visit to the area in mid August turned up a previously unknown breeding colony of brown argus butterflies breeding on dove's-foot crane's bill G.molle. A very good find. A photograph of a male and female brown argus taken by JHR Ridley is attached.

Regards
John, Upton Warren

Photos: Pale eggar, bullrush wainscot, brown argus

Mothing at Upton Warren

We caught more moths at Upton Warren at the end of July - & got some very pretty photos.

In summary nearly 800 moths trapped of about 120 species using seven 125mv and one 15w actinic skinner. Some records are still to come in and some species to be confirmed. Eleven moths so far were new for the site: 642 Batia unitella: 758 Recurvaria leucatella: 765 Teleiodes vulgella: 796 Aroga velocella: 1155 Epinotia brunnichana: 1637 Oak Eggar Lasiocampa quercus: 1754 The Phoenix Eulithis prunata: 1874 Dingy Shell Euchoeca nebulata: 1997 Sallow Kitten Furcula furcula: 2049 Buff Footman Eilema depressa: 2111 Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing Noctua janthe.

The area in the Education Reserve around the Upton (Rabbit) 'Warren' is turning out to be particularly interesting. This is where 796 Aroga velocella was collected which we think has only previously been recorded in Worcestershire from Hartlebury Common: It is a moorland and heathland species. Its larva feed in a silken gallery at the BASE: the end nearest the body of a leg, hair or other appendage.');" onmouseout="return nd();">base of sheeps' sorrel (Rumex acetosella). We have looked at this area in the daytime and collected further micros which are new for the reserve they are 1273 Dichrorampha petiverella: 776 Teleiopsis diffinis and 1219 Lathronympha strigana.

As part of the wider Lepodoptera project I have been monitoring butterflies and am happy to report this year we were blessed with good numbers of White-letter Hairstreaks on the Wych Elms along the Salwarp on the reserve.

Regards

John, Upton Warren

Photos: oak eggar, sallow kitten, white letter hairstreak

June Moths at Upton Warren

We were out at Upton Warren again on 22 June to survey moths.

In summary there were 391 moths trapped of 90 species using two 125mv and one 15w actinic skinner.

Two moths, a micro coleophora mayrella, and a macro, figure of eighty Tethea ocularis were new for the site. The reed bed specialities included southern, obscure and silky wainscots. Two hawk moths - eyed hawk moth and elephant hawk moth - were trapped, and large nutmeg Apamea anceps was a particularly good find.

John, Upton Warren

(Photos from above: figure of eighty, obscure wainscot, large nutmeg)

New moth at Upton Warren

Our moth trapping at Upton Warren two weekends ago produced two new records for the reserve - puss moth and pale pinion. It was a cold miserable night, saved only by good companionship, and a few good moths.

Pat and John, Upton Warren

Moths at Monkwood

The first visit of last year was in early March. An impressive amount of clearance work and coppicing had been done over the winter and the piles of cut poles produced signs of one of the scarcer moth of the year. 41 Ectoedemia atrifrontella is one of very few Nepticulid moths that mine bark rather than leaves. The larva's tunnels leave a raised pattern on the bark of young oak branches. The moth is Nationally notable. Tony Simpson had recorded the moth at Monkwood in the 1980's so it is good to know it is still there.

The final trapping session of the year was Mike Southall's public event in September. 38 species were recorded from 7 traps. Highlights were 2364 Frosted Orange, a very late 2422 Green Silver Lines and a large number (115 between us!) of 1658 Oak Lutestrings. Monkwood must be the best site for this species in the county by some distance. The event was well attended by
members of the public who were new to moths and enjoyed seeing them close up.

Over 182 species were recorded for Monkwood in 2009. The site continues to offer excellent
habitat for some of our county's scarcer moths. I'll keep you updated as 2010 unfolds!

Oliver, Monkwood

Moths of Upton Warren

We've just submitted our annual moth count report for Upton Warren to the Trust.

In all we recorded an excellent 2671 moths of 295 species on seven trapping sessions. Of these 103 were new for the reserve and 192 were confirmations. This takes the number of lepidoptera records for the reserve from 348 to 451.

In addition I have been able to report a number of caddis fly's attracted to the light traps to the Trusts Record.

We're hoping to continue our recording at Upton Warren from April.

John, Upton Warren
(photos large emerald, the magpie, elephant hawk moths)