British Butterflies and Moths (Collins Complete Guides)

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If you're interested in observing and counting moths in your garden you can help contribute to a database of British moth numbers by taking part in Butterfly Conservation's annual Moth Night. Grasslands are an incredibly valuable habitat for many of the UK’s moths and butterflies. Semi-natural grassland, pasture, arable land, urban parkland and any areas with rough unmanaged grass will all support a variety of butterfly species. In the height of summer these areas can be teeming with Skippers, Common Blues, Ringlets and Meadow Browns. Be sure to inspect any flowering plants (particularly thistles and knapweeds) as these can act as vital nectaring points for many butterflies. Pay close attention for the fast and subtle movements of smaller species as these can often disappear against such a busy environment. A prime example of this is the Small Copper which is notoriously hard to spot due to its minute size, fast flight and discrete colouration (when its wings are closed). LOOK OUT FOR: Thanks to Butterfly Conservation for letting us use their images throughout this article. For more information on UK butterflies and how you can help them, please visit Butterfly Conservation.org. Here you will find a wealth of information to help you find and identify butterflies and moths. throughout, except far north and north-west; expanding range in Scotland and "infilling" in England and Wales Lycaenidae – hairstreaks, coppers and blues [ edit ] Brown hairstreak Brown argus Northern brown argus Chalkhill blue Holly blue

Alessandro Giusti, Lepidoptera Curator at the Museum, explains that brilliantly coloured moths are often day-flying species or those keen to display their distastefulness to predators.

Planting to attract moths

A lot of (but not all) moths are ‘positively phototactic’– they’re drawn towards light. There is still a lot of debate about why this is, but it is likely to do with how they evolved to use the moon and stars for navigation before we had electricity and man-made fire. Our modern lamps confuse them. What do moths eat?

Some species are in sharp decline, with 60 species going extinct in the 20th Century. The v-moth has declined 99% in Britain, the white ermine has decreased by 70% and the blood-vein by 73%. While British native species are declining, new species from Europe are colonising Britain. They include tree-lichen beauty, established in 2000 and now found in Kent, Essex, London and Surrey. Clancy’s rustic has spread rapidly since it was first seen in Kent in 2002 and is thought to be breeding in southern coastal counties.

Moths can be seen throughout the year even in the winter, for instance we have the ‘December moth’ and the ‘November moth’ but they are most common through the summer. How to go moth watching Their food supply can be a good starting point when looking for moths and caterpillars, with each species preferring certain plants and flowers. The caterpillars of this large family of insects known as Lepidoptera can vary greatly in size, colour, shape, pattern and behaviour. Even the number, position and type of legs can vary between species and features such as this can help with identification. Caterpillar identification queries The first looked at the effects of changing phenology. As the climate has warmed, butterflies and moths have tended to fly earlier in the year 5 and, in some cases, produce more generations each year 6, but the implications of these changes for population size and persistence were unclear. The new research considered 130 species of butterflies and moths in Britain and showed, using data from the UK Butterflies Monitoring Scheme and Rothamsted Insect Survey, that phenological advance (i.e. emerging earlier in the year) was associated with increased population growth, but only in multivoltine species 7. In such species, the earlier emergence of the first generation led to greater abundance in the second brood. The flight periods of univoltine (single-brooded) species also advanced significantly over a 20-year study period (1995-2014) but there was no clear relationship with abundance trends. Indeed, for those univoltine species that were also habitat specialists, earlier emergence was correlated with decreasing abundance. The authors concluded that the northward shifts of species driven by climate change are indirectly linked to advancing phenology via changes in abundance. Large tortoiseshell – Nymphalis polychloros (now vagrant only, although sightings in southern England since 2007 suggest recolonisation may be occurring) RE

If you've got a moth you're struggling to identify you can use Butterfly Conservation's moth identification tool to filter moth varieties by size, colour and markings so you can view a selection that fits your criteria, and hopefully successfully identify the moth species you've seen. Planting to attract moths

Butterfly Field Guides

Williamson, B., 2011. Plain Tiger. Butterfly Conservation Cambridgeshire & Essex Branch Newsletter 65: 15–16. Species included in the Great Britain Lepidoptera numbering system, but believed never to have occurred naturally in a wild state Your best chance of spotting this moth in the UK might be finding freshly emerged adults on willow trunks on summer mornings. Help with UK moth identification We have some hugely impressive moths in the UK, the largest resident is the privet hawkmothwith a wing span of up to five inches and recently we have seen the return of another very large moth which previously went extinct in the UK in the 1960s, the Clifden nonpareil, or blue underwing. patchily distributed through southern England, Wales, north-west and north-east England, and Scotland