I have had the irritatingly catchy theme tune to Hannah Barbara's cartoon "Top Cat.. the indisputable leader of the gang !" running in my head for the last week or so. Ever since my Moth trap from the online NHBS (Natural History Book Store) arrived my alliteration synapses have gone into overdrive. I found myself humming the tune to the comedy cat mafia series as I assembled and carried the trap out to the garden with my Brother who was visiting for the weekend. I think the tune has been in my head all weekend now.
Is it ? "The most tip-top... Moth Trap. Da-da Da-da Dah Dah ! Da da da dada da-la dah dah oh yah !"
Well the instructions were pretty straight forward. Essentially the trap consists of a fold together sturdy white box with velcro strips to secure the sides. A single metal gantry provides both a home for the gantry with the special light bulb and guides for two further top panels that slope down and act as "baffles" to direct the moths into the interior of the trap. Before you position the trap you fill it with egg boxes to act as a cosy overnight hotel. The whole thing operates from the mains but we have now had outside electrics run to both the potting shed and the mower store next to the rough meadow area. The bulb itself (and this means little to me) is super bright but gives off 368 nm of "blacklight". I think thats ultraviolet light.
My trial run was in one of Jane's beds next to her potting shed. It was a full moon that night and I am nor sure if that would make a difference. Does the moon compete for each moth's attention ? I have a good British Moths field guide but a concise field guide also came with the trap and three collecting pots which would prove useful. The trap sat there all Friday night and into Saturday morning humming away its theme tune and bathing the neighbourhood in special optical effects. Exciting ! You bet.
Like a small child on Christmas morning (well almost) I left from bed and hurried outside. My Brother was waiting for in the kitchen for me. Arriving at the trap we gingerly lifted one of the panels and took a peep into the dark interior of the box. Rustling around amongst the egg boxes we discovered two whole moths ! "Well at least it works" we remarked.
I give you our first inmate. One of the family Arctiidae - "Tiger Moths , Ermines, Footman Moths and Allies". There are over 11,000 moths in this one family worldwide. That's one family of moths - not the whole lot. There are by comparison 10,500 of so birds species worldwide in total. Thankfully only 32 Arctiidae have been seen in the British Isles of which 29 are resident. I am not sure if that helped at all as I still had to wade through every page of the moth guide until I alighted on the most likely candidate. In this case the moth revealed itself to be Spilosoma Luteum - a Buff Ermine. He took a bit of encouragement to get into the collecting bottle. There must be a technique for that and I need to a learn it as we need our moths whole and well. This is strictly a catch and release programme. No victorian gassing and pinning on boards going on in this neighbourhood. What a handsome fellow !
I attach the picture from the field guide - This is going to be a slow process. With a bird I can immediately tell what section of the book it is going to fall into. Is it a Heron or a Warbler ? Not so with moths unless they are a bright red Burnet day moth or a green and pink Elephant Hawk Moth. There is the equivalent of the parrot page in the tropical field guide. Everything else ? Well unfortunately the sensible chaps at Dulux seemed to be consulting when the Moth colours were dolled out at creation. The broad range is from grey to brown with a lot of misty buffs and tawny beiges. Rather natural selection determined that these were the best colours to hide in !
I got there in the end. Perhaps an hour with my nose in the books. I am starting with a very low baseline of knowledge. There is nothing else like the moth in the photo in the book and it seems to be a male - no doubt on the prowl for a mate amongst the Cammasias. I love the Moth names. You can see how this fellow has been named after a royal robe - especially the female. Ermine is the white winter coat of a Stoat. White with a few black spots. This Moth is both resident and common and flies between May and July each year in one generation. It overwinters as a Pupa (cocoon) and the larvae when they emerge are especially fond of nettles. Plenty of nettles at the bottom our garden.
Our second candidate is below. Again it was a painful process. I found myself finding similar moths but then common sense told me that they were for example missing a line or panel on their wings or from the detailed text and description in the field guide were two months early to the nocturnal party. In simple terms they would still be caterpillars until the end of the Summer. Look again. This chap seems to look like some very boring kitchen curtains. I love his long feathery feelers though. I eventually decided that he (or she) must come from the family Noctuidae (Amphipyrinae) - Arches, brindles, minors, rustics and allies. They sound so Shakespearian. You are a rustic brindle my fine fellow - be gone with you Arch !
In this case the moth is a "Treble Line" Charanyca trigammica. This Month is resident, common and well distributed. It creates one generation each year between May and early July overwintering as a small larvae (caterpillar) which feeds on common herbaceous plants such as dandelions. Well there are plenty of those in the lawn at the moment.
Simon Barnes, the Times' former sports correspondent who now writes extensively about the natural world talks often about the joy of knowing the name of something. I am wondering with 880 species of British Moth whether I have the bandwidth to go down this particular rabbit hole. I think I do.
Unlike with birds it seems quite a passive pursuit. You don't have to stand next to a tree craning you neck for thirty minutes. You set up your trap and then you pop it open in the morning and hit the books. There is no stumbling and crashing around a field like you do with a butterfly waiting for the thing to land to snap a mobile photo.
Also I promised myself that I would get a good handle on what we have at Oaklands. It makes good sense if we are aiming to improve the property for wildlife that we track our residents. We know for example that we have all three newt species in the pond. We know that we have tawny owls in the wood and swallows in the garage. We have seen all the deer apart from red deer and badgers, foxes, rabbits and grey squirrels on our camera traps and in our wanderings. A weasel ran across Jane's boot when she was sat in the wood ! The diversity of moths should give us a good idea of how rich we are in useful indigenous plants. One should inform or support the other. It's fun, interesting for its own sake and its supports our purpose.
When we first moved in we were stunned to see a Humming Bird Hawmoth on the honeysuckle on the old heating house for the swimming pool. These are migratory and have long established routes that track food sources in season. That building with its honey suckle have now gone in the early landscaping for the terrace and pottager. A pair of Willow Tits bred in the messy patch around the old building as well. We have replaced the honeysuckle three of four times over elsewhere on the property and there are plenty of other opportunities for a Willow Tit. But I haven't seen a Humming Bird Hawkmoth since nor have seen a Willow Tit since 2020. Removing the building was the right thing to do - we have to live here and it was falling down. We have to be conscious though of what are doing though when we make changes. Knowing about the links or weaves in the fabric can only help. I will think twice for example before I ever strip a patch of nettles. I will pause before I root up a dandelion in a patch of lawn which doesn't need to be so tidy. Ermine Buffs and Treble Lines.
Essentially I would love over time to establish a baseline across a good range of different animals for the property - Moths, Butterflies, Mammals, Amphibians and some of the more obvious Insects (Beetles are impossible but I could try with Shield Bugs !) and Birds. I will trap once or twice a week with the Moths and see where that takes me. But why bother ?
Moths have declined in the UK by 33 % since 1968.
If I can track how and when I trap and compare from year to year perhaps I can get a simple picture of what is happening here as we try to help nature rather than hinder it. It would be good for example to put in a native hedge and see if our numbers and species of moths increase. Perhaps for now with the moon illuminating the landscape in such a spectacular fashion the numbers will start small. My instinct tells me that as the nights darken down the Moth Trap will be more Tip Top ! I think we also need to venture further down the garden toward the wood and meadow area. Another notebook is needed dedicated to moths. Perhaps I can write a short paper by the end of Summer ? Oaklands has opened up a new front in the pursuit of knowledge. If nothing else I will learn the names of a few more beautiful creatures. Buff Ermine and Treble Lines. That's a good start.
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