The Lewis family from Coleridge Drive, Enderby found two Privet Hawk-moths living in their garden on a Honeysuckle plant. This is one of our largest species of moth, with their forewings measuring up to 55mm. This spectacular moth is just one example of the huge variety of shapes and colours we find in this group of animals. There are around 2,500 species of moth in this country, with approximately 900 classified as macromoths (generally more than 10mm wing length). Choosing ten out of these to illustrate the variety of moths found in the UK is difficult, but I’ll try. In the first row we have a Privet Hawk-moth, a Cinnabar, Swallowtail, Ruby Tiger and Brimstone Moth – all of them rivalling butterflies with their colourful displays.
Not all moths adopt such bright colours – many are masters of disguise. The cryptic patterns and colour combinations make each of the moths below difficult to pick out against the background in their chosen habitat. The moths shown here are a Scorched Wing, Oak Beauty, Mother Shipton, Buff-tip and Pine Beauty. The wings of butterflies and moths are transparent, but they are covered with minute scales and the colours and patterns that we see are due to the nature of these scales and the way in which they interact with light.
Although we do not see moths all that often, they are abundant, but you do need specialised equipment to see them in large numbers. If you don’t wish to start out with an expensive light trap, you can attract large numbers of moths on a summer evening using just a bright lamp shining on a white sheet. Most of the species shown here, and many more besides, can be caught from almost any garden.