Menagerie of Magnificent Moths

Guest blog by William

I have been investigating the moths in my garden for the past year. I was amazed to find 82 different species and many more micro moths (the very small moths)! There are about 900 macro moth species in the UK and even more micro moth species.

I set up a moth trap in my garden overnight to attract the moths. Don’t worry though – the trap doesn’t hurt the moths and they are all set free again the following evening.

You get different moths at different times of year. The most colourful moths are around in the summer. I also found far more moths when the weather was hot and dry than cold and wet.

I am very impressed by how well the moths camouflage themselves. The Buff Tip is an amazing moth – it looks just like a twig! I placed it down in a pile of twigs and it was hard to see which was the moth! The Large Emerald looks just like a green leaf. When it flew off and landed on a leaf, I could hardly see it! I also found an Elephant Hawk Moth. This is quite a large moth and it looks like it is made of pink and green velvet, but it feels much like any other moth. It feeds on honeysuckle and camouflages brilliantly on honeysuckle as its colouring and patterns match.

The largest moth I found was the Privet Hawk Moth which is the largest moth in the UK. It was as big as the palm of my hand. Unlike the other moths, this felt heavier on my hand and more like an enormous spider crawling on me!

I made a video of my moth investigations for the Sussex Wildlife Trust Nature Ranger Award. I hope you enjoy it!

Find out more about Sussex Wildlife Trust Wildlife Awards