Moths

Moth attack!

I first started collecting, identifying and photographing moths back in the seventies when I worked at Swansea University in the Zoology department museum. The department often received calls from the public asking us to help with identifying animals they found.  We were glad to help as this resulted in many interesting records of unusual animals in the locality.

For example, twenty years ago I received a call “There’s a huge insect on the wall outside my door and it’s scaring the kids.  What should I do?”  I said I would come over and see if I could identify the cause of their concern. On arrival I found this:

At 60mm long, with very distinctive Halloween-like markings and a habit making a loud hissing/squeaking noise¹ when touched, I could immediately see why it was thought to be dangerous! It was a Death’s Head Hawk moth, obviously called this due to their ‘skull’ markings, a rare migrant moth from the warmer climes of Europe.  Their caterpillars feed on deadly nightshade and potatoes and although they can still be found in potato fields in Britain, insecticide crop spraying has reduced this to a rare occurrence.

The moth’s main flight time is from late August to late October so with the hot weather we should keep an eye out. You never know they could be about this Halloween!

They are not dangerous (except to potatoes) and I think they are rather beautiful in their individual macabre styling.  I have always wondered why so many of our moths are so pretty when they insist on flying at night! Nowadays I occasionally trap moths in my back garden and photograph the ones I cannot identify.  Gower’s dark skies make it ideal for catching moths using light traps and, as we are near the coast, we have the added bonus of migrant moths visiting on a fairly regular basis.  I will photograph some of the prettier ones and put them on the website when the trapping season starts in spring.

Steve Walmsley