Since the start of April we’ve been regularly setting out our moth trap here at Lochwinnoch to have a look at what species call the reserve their home. Moth trapping is a fun and rewarding activity that is usually carried out with the aid of a trap which attracts moths via a bright light and then funnels them into a container. This allows the moths to be harmlessly captured, identified and recorded before they are released again.
So why record them? Moths are not only important as a food source for animals like birds and bats but can be useful indicators of habitat health. While the caterpillars of some species eat a variety of plants, others are dependent upon only a few or even a single food-plant. This can make them highly sensitive to habitat change, such as urbanization and the loss of green spaces.
This year at RSPB Lochwinnoch a brilliant 103 species of moth were caught illustrating just how wide the variety of moths can be in a single area. So, without further ado, here’s a look back at some of the highlights from this year!
Colourful Characters
Moths are commonly portrayed as being the dowdy counterpart to the brightly coloured butterfly. But, in writing this blog, I had a hard time narrowing my choice down to just a handful of colourful species to talk about!
Hawkmoths are a fan-favourite in the moth world with their striking size and unusual shapes and colours. Our first hawkmoth, an elephant hawkmoth, caught at the reserve in early June drew lots of attention and deserved admiration from the team at Lochwinnoch. The name comes from the caterpillar’s supposed resemblance to the trunk of an elephant, but in actual fact the caterpillar is actually mimicking the appearance of a snake as an anti-predator tactic.
Another welcome sight in the trap in the summer months were several poplar hawkmoths - one of the largest moth species in the British Isles with a wingspan of up to 9cm! It has an unusual silhouette when at rest as it holds its hindwings in front of its forewings. When disturbed it can flash the normally hidden red patches on its wings to startle off would-be predators.
Left; elephant hawkmoth, right: poplar hawkmoth.
Hawkmoths aren’t the only eye-catching moths to be found however. Others include the stunning garden tiger with its black-and-white forewings and bright orange underwings and its close relative the ruby tiger with its deep red wings and brighter body.
Left; a garden tiger moth, right: a ruby tiger.
At our moth event in June there were several more striking species like the pale emerald, brimstone moth, beautiful golden y and peach blossom. Other favourites from the summer include the metallic burnished brass, green carpet and ghost moth.
Top row, left to right: ghost moth, beautiful golden y, burnished brass. Bottom row: peach blossom, pale emerald, green carpet.
While things have noticeably quietened down in the Autumn we were greeted with the aptly named canary-shouldered thorn, with its fluffy yellow body it really does look like a canary in miniature.
Last but certainly not least, a merveille du jour caused a stir not only because of its looks but as a potential first for the reserve. This wasn’t quite the case as a dive through the records told us that it had been recorded back in 2008 - but, still a first in well over a decade! It is a widespread species in the UK but records are scarce in the local area. The caterpillars feed on oak while the adults feed on ivy flowers, making the native oak woodlands of the UK the ideal habitat.
Left; a canary-shouldered thorn, right: a merveille du jour.
Creative Camouflage
Most moths are nocturnal, meaning that during the day they have to hide away from the gaze of predators. As a result, many moths are experts at camouflage, blending into the bark of trees, a lichen covered wall or rotting leaf litter.
A famous example of camouflage in the moth world can be attributed to the peppered moth, a species that was a common visitor to the trap in the month of June. There are two well-known variants of the peppered moth - a dark form and a light. During the industrial revolution the dark form became more common as it was able to better camouflage with the soot-covered trees and buildings. Nowadays as coal-use is far less than it once was, the light form is once again the most abundant type of peppered moth.
Spot the peppered moth!
When the trap was opened on the first warm day in May I thought a wood chip had managed to fall into the trap… until it started moving. It’s hard to tell at first which end is the head on the pale prominent as it barely looks moth-like at all, but this strange appearance means it can easily find a safe place to hide away on some rotten wood or amongst the debris on the forest floor during the day.
Pale prominent moth resting on a leaf.
One of the most impressive examples of camouflage belongs to the buff-tip however. Even down to the way it holds its wings at rest this moth expertly mimics a broken birch twig.
Is it a twig? Is it a branch? No, it’s a buff-tip!
Habitat Specialists
Lochwinnoch is situated in the largest wetland in SW Scotland, as a result some of the moths found here are typically associated with habitats like reedbeds and marshy grassland.
The drinker is an unusual (and debatably quite cute!) species named for the caterpillar’s habit of drinking drops of dew from foliage. The larvae feed on a range of grasses, sedges and reeds making the damp grassland present at the reserve ideal habitat.
Drinker Moth.
Other wetland moths we’ve found in the trap include several species of wainscot, dark-barred twin spot carpet and oblique carpet.
From left to right: Smoky wainscot, oblique carpet, and dark-barred twin-spot carpet.
Marvellous micros
If moths are overlooked in favour of butterflies, then the micro moths are an even more underappreciated group of lepidopterans.
All of the previously mentioned species belong to a group known as ‘macro moths’, accounting for around 800 of the UK’s moths. Generally speaking, macro moths are larger (though not always, contrary to their name), more familiar and belong to a collection of families which evolved alongside flowering plants, around 125 million years ago.
Those remaining 1700 species are known as the micro moths which are generally smaller than the macros and are regarded as being more ‘primitive’, with some families having evolved before flowering plants did! In tandem with their smaller size many micros don’t even have common names which can make identifying and learning them even more of a challenge.
Some of the micros caught and successfully ID’d at Lochwinnoch include the small magpie, a larger species of micro that is one of the easiest to identify and is widely distributed across the British Isles.
A small magpie moth.
More unusual looking micros include the plume moths which have modified wings, giving them the appearance of being feathery. When at rest many plumes roll up their wings, like Gillmeria pallidactyla below, making them look distinctively non moth-like.
Gillmeria pallidactyla, a species of plume moth.
As the days grow shorter and colder numbers in the moth trap are dwindling down to the last few hardy individuals. However, looking back it has been a massively successful year and we hope you’ll join us again in the spring to see what other moths we find at Lochwinnoch.
By Lauren McLean