Tag Archives: British moths

Late Lepidoptera in East Sussex

28 Wednesday Oct 2026

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Though I thought I would probably see a few Clouded yellows and perhaps a late-migrating Red admiral, I didn’t really expect to see many butterflies during my week in East Sussex, and most of the time the weather was too wild and windy for small invertebrates to be on the wing.

Above, one of several Clouded yellows, and, below, a slightly tatty Red admiral – will it attempt the migration flight or simply fade away in southern Britain?

However, as is often the case, when the sun is shining even the smallest sheltered spot can hold some super surprises. This was one of three Common blues I saw flitting about amongst the low-growing wildflowers between areas of scrub on Beachy Head, most unexpected in such an exposed location.

As well as a few Painted ladies, Speckled woods, and Small whites, I was also delighted to spot a couple of Small copper butterflies, a species I certainly didn’t expect to see again this year.

Probably the biggest surprise, though, was this stunning Humming-bird hawk-moth, flitting about the lovely seaside flower gardens along Eastbourne Promenade, at the western end of the beach. A late autumn delight!

Moth: Nut-tree tussock

21 Monday Sep 2026

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It’s not often that I manage to see both the adult and larva of a moth species, and I’ve seen both of these this year for the first time, the adult appearing first, on 1 May, and the larva more recently, on 4 September. These are Nut-tree tussocks (Colocasia coryli) and both, I think, are stunning.

The adult and larva were in completely different locations, many miles apart, the adult roosting for the day on the side of a stucco-covered building, the larva sitting underneath a willow leaf. Both locations are atypical, according to the information about this species on the UK Moths website, which states that this moth mostly frequents woodland, and the larvae ‘feed on a variety of deciduous trees, mostly Birch and Hazel, but also Sycamore, Hornbeam, Oak and others’.

In southern Britain, these moths are bivoltine; the adult moths can be seen between April and June and then again between July and September. In the north, the moth has a single brood, the adults on the wing in May and June.

On Common fleabane: Lepidoptera

19 Wednesday Aug 2026

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As I wrote in Sunday’s blog about Drought-tolerant Common fleabane, the number of insects I’ve been seeing feeding on these plants gives me hope for their survival of this summer’s heat and drought. These are some of the Lepidoptera species I’ve seen, starting with the butterflies.

As well as these Common blue, Small white, Clouded yellow f. helice (my first of this pale colouration this year), and Brown argus, I’ve also spotted Meadow brown on the local fleabane flowers.

Next, the moths, both larvae and adults. The first is a caterpillar of one of the Pug moths (Eupithecia sp.), and the second, hiding in its self-made case, is Coleophora conyzae, a new species for me and a rare moth in Wales, with only 15 records to date.

The dark moth is Apodia bifractella, another that was new to me, though a moth that’s listed as common on the UK Moths website (n.b. it seems to have had a very recent name change to Apodia martinii). The final moth is the stunning Common purple & gold (Pyrausta purpuralis) – I’ve seen several of these enjoying the nutrients provided by Common fleabane flowers.

A Jersey tiger summer

06 Thursday Aug 2026

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Have you seen a Jersey tiger moth this summer?

Though 2025 was a good year locally for this stunning moth, I seem to have seen even more this year. I don’t know whether this is simply because they are now so comfortably settled in my area that they’re breeding in good numbers or if it’s yet another effect of this hottest of summers – perhaps both statements are true. Also, the winter of 2025-26 was quite mild, meaning the over-wintering caterpillars would have had a better chance of surviving though till their pupation in the spring.

For the first time I’ve even seen Jersey tiger moths (Euplagia quadripunctaria) mating. In fact, I almost stood on them – it was just lucky that I looked down at my feet before stepping off a local path to look more closely at a plant, as they were on the ground amongst the vegetation and leaf litter. Fortunately for them, they can now go on to produce even more Jersey tigers for me to enjoy next year.

The moth that acts like it’s a bird

31 Friday Jul 2026

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We don’t have Hummingbirds in the UK but I used to see them quite regularly when I lived in Peru so, when I see the creature in today’s images, my mind always goes back to my time living in South America.

Of course, this creature is smaller than even the smallest hummingbird, but not by as much as you might think. A Google search tells me that the Bee hummingbird, the world’s smallest, ranges in length from 5.5cms for a male to 6.1cms for a female, whereas a Humming-bird hawk-moth (Macroglossum stellatarum) is between 3 to 5cms.

I don’t know about you but I’ve seen a lot of Humming-bird hawk-moths this summer, more than I remember seeing in previous years and, as this moth migrates to the UK from southern Europe and North Africa, I presume the increased sightings are yet another effect of the hot south-easterly winds blowing from the Continent and our continuing record-breaking heatwaves.

Though they are super to watch when they’re hovering to feed, these moths can be tricky to photograph. They rarely stay still for long so sharp images are almost impossible to capture though, actually, I don’t mind that too much as it does give a sense of their movement.

The larval webs of the Apple ermine moth

10 Wednesday Jun 2026

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This is the time of year when we regularly see shrubs, bushes, even whole trees draped in what many people assume are massive spiders’ webs but are actually the larval webs of various species of moth. I’ve blogged previously about the webs I see most often, those of the Spindle ermine (June 2021, and again From larva to adult moth, June 2022) and shown you some of the several species of ermine moth, all of which look very similar (More moth appreciation, September 2025).

These latest webs, however, are a new species for me, and their presence on the Apple trees in the community orchard at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park was something of a surprise as, due to the area being sheltered by a surrounding hedge, I pop in to the orchard quite frequently to search there for butterflies, dragonflies and other insects.

Not surprisingly given the trees they’re living on, these are the larvae of the Apple ermine moth (Yponomeuta malinellus); the UK Moth website warns that the adult moths are difficult to distinguish from the other ermines ‘even by genitalia examination’, so the larval foodplant is the most reliable way to identify them. UK Moths also mentions that, once fully grown, the larvae pupate inside ‘white cocoons [which] are arranged neatly side by side in a web beneath a leaf or twig’. Now that’s something I’ll have to look out for.

Lekking Green long-horns

14 Thursday May 2026

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My Collins Concise Dictionary defines lek, the noun, as ‘a small area in which birds of certain species, notably the black grouse, gather for sexual display and courtship’, and the word can also be used as a verb, hence lekking, the activity of courtship display in that area.

The dictionary only mentions birds and, certainly, we usually think of lekking as something confined to birds, but the act of showing off in order to attract a mate is not confined to avian species; insects and, apparently, some fish, also perform mating displays.

And that’s exactly what these Green long-horn moths (Adela reaumurella) were doing when I spotted them congregating around a particular bush in an area of trees (in fact, I’ve now seen several such displays in various woodland or tree-filled locations). I’m not sure why they choose their particular spot but it seems to be a prominent position towards the top of a shrub or on a branch that sticks out from the rest of a tree, often in sunshine, and they flutter about, settle briefly on a leaf, then flutter again. The lek is a delight to watch.

My first moth of the year

18 Wednesday Feb 2026

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Those moth-ers who run nightly moth traps have been reporting, on social media and despite the often detrimental weather, that small numbers of moths have begun appearing in their traps during the past couple of weeks. As I don’t trap, I’ve just been keeping an eye out in the places I sometimes see moths, usually on walls near where outside lights are on at night. And, finally, last Thursday, I spotted my first moth of the year, a new species for me, an Early moth (Theria primaria). As you might guess from its name, this is one of the first species to be seen each year, appearing in January and February. Though the UK Moths website says it’s usually found in woodland margins and hedgerows, this one was on the panelling around a building site, though the opposite side of the path is full of trees and scrub.

Larva: Southern wainscot

22 Thursday Jan 2026

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Firstly, I want to admit that I had no idea I would find this little creature lurking inside a rolled up leaf in the reeds by the River Ely during yesterday’s walk. I had noticed the mottling on some of the leaves and wondered what was causing it – a fungus maybe?

I still don’t know the answer to that question as I was completely distracted when I found the caterpillar, and was totally focused on that instead.

My find hasn’t yet been verified but I think this is the larva of the Southern wainscot moth (Mythimna straminea), which, according to the UK Moths website, overwinters as a larva and typically spends its days hiding in the stems of various Reeds (Phragmites species), emerging at night to feed.

There are only a few records of this moth in the greater Cardiff area but I doubt many people spend time checking the leaves of reeds for its larvae and I also doubt anyone ever runs a moth trap at night in this particular Grangemoor Park location, which explains the lack of records of the adult moth (a beauty you can see on UK Moths) in the immediate area.

J is for Jersey tiger

15 Monday Dec 2025

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As I wrote on 30 August, after a lull in sightings over the past couple of years, 2025 was A good year for Jersey tigers, and it seems very likely that our changing climate has a lot to do with this year’s notable increase in sightings of this stunning moth.