More Moths

Monday, July 10th 2023

Our moth traps catch some lovely moths at this time of year. This Large Emerald does live up to its name and is a large moth.

It flew off from the log and landed in the leaves of a shrub.  Sitting as it is, its brown eyes and striped brown legs are on show.  The caterpillars can be found from July to the following June, feeding on Silver and Downy Birch, Hazel and Alder.

We also catch the lighter coloured and smaller Light Emerald moth at this time of year and usually we can identify it without too much trouble.  One taken from the trap was half looked at and thought to be a Large Emerald, because of its size.  On closer inspection we realised that it was a Light Emerald but a 'huge' one.  Andrew measured its wingspan whilst it was in a container and it was approximately 60mm, instead of the usual 30 to 40mm.  Unfortunately both the large one and the normal sized one were not feeling photogenic!  Fingers crossed for next week.

The portable trap was placed on the heath and we recorded nine True Lover's Knot moths, whose caterpillars feed on Heather.

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