by Lawrie de Whalley

The warm damp night of 26th June brought a bonanza of moths to my light trap in Winterborne Stickland.

5 Privet Hawks with pink striped bodies, 9 Elephant Hawks whose vivid pink wings are the colour of rosebay willowherb, one of it's caterpillars foodplants.

3 Small Elephant Hawks glowing gold on their wings, an Eyed Hawk and a Poplar Hawk made a good representation of our largest moths.

Also 1 Garden Tiger with signal red hindwings, 1 Peppered Moth white with black dots, a Buff Tip with cryptic colouring just like a broken Birch twig and an ochre coloured Barred Straw spreading its wings with a curled trailing edge.

The 'small brown moths' were represented by over one hundred Heart and Dart, several Flame and an Ingrailed Clay. A Green pug was a smaller visitor making a total of 38 species for the night. All were released after identification and flew away safely.

Recording the species and quantities helps to understand the changes taking place in the populations. By having wild patches in our gardens we can help sustain moth poulations whose caterpillars feed on a huge range of wild plants from trees to lichen and 'low growing plants'.