More Moths

Friday, August 6th 2021

At the final count there were 167 species of moths recorded with 13 of these being new species for the reserve.  There were 166 July Highflyers, 51 Brimstone Moths and 178 Large Yellow Underwings amongst the total.

A beautiful moth caught was Mother of Pearl.  It is always interesting to check the larval foodplants and for this moth it is mainly Common Nettle, of which the reserve has plenty and also Wych and English Elm which can be found around the reserve.  This is a micro moth although not tiny in size as some are.

A smaller micro moth is Pyrausta purpuralis.  It is a common moth but more local in Northern England.  It obviously likes Foxglove as 20 of them were recorded.  The larvae feed on members of the Lamiaceae (Labiatae) family and this includes mints.  Mint likes damp places and can be found on the damper areas of the moor, around the lake and cascading ponds as well as throughout the Scrapes.

This tiny macro moth resembles a bird dropping and this possibly saves it from predation if it is on the outside of the trap.  Crab Apple, Bramble, Pear and Blackthorn are included in the plants for the larvae.

Although we have many of the food plants for the Swallow-tailed moth we do not catch many of them.  As moths age they can lose their marking and their colour.  The red dots have faded from the tips of its hind wings.

Scalloped Oak caterpillars feed on a range of shrubs including Silver and Downy Birch.

Iron Prominent flies during June and July.  Further south there are two generations and these fly from May to September.  This moth has furry legs!

The star moth was Pammene populana. The only county records in the last 50 years are from Bellflask and Nosterfield so it’s nice to see it occurs at Foxglove.

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