Wealden Times | WT212 | October 2019 | Kitchen & Bathroom supplement inside

known as the ‘meadow maker’ for its ability to parasitize
the grasses and weaken their growth, several native
species have miraculously appeared this year, amongst
them scabious, betony and musk mallow. The latter’s
musky scent is particularly attractive to night flying
insects and its open pink flowers are very recognisable
flowering as they do on wasteland and field edges.
We had a local moth expert along in July, the best month
for moths by the way, and he set up a moth trap in the middle
of the lawn. We went out at about 10.30pm just to see that
it was still there! However, the connection to the electricity
must have come loose as there was no sign of light and so the
next half an hour was spent out in the dark trying out old
leads dug out from the garage. Note to self: clear garage out.
But it was worth it as when Bernard came back at 6.30am the
following morning, he opened up the trap and we studiously
inspected his night time tally despite being a little bleary
eyed. We had 51 species in there, apparently not that high a
count but it was our first go. It was so exciting to learn a little
about these fascinating and usually pretty invisible creatures
and to be able to inspect them so closely. And their names:
Thistle Ermine, Beautiful Plume, Drinker, Red Twin Spot
Carpet, Pebble Prominent, Nut-tree Tussock and so on.
Three stand out moths for their drama as well as
their delicacy were the Buff-tip, which looks exactly
like a short piece of birch twig, a perfectly developed
defence mechanism to deflect predators; the Elephant
Hawkmoth, a large and lovely pink and olive moth
whose caterpillar resembles an elephant’s trunk, and
the Poplar Hawkmoth. We had two of these.
The Poplar Hawkmoth is apparently the most common
of the hawkmoths in the UK and its appearance is
certainly arresting as it has wingspan of up to 10cm
and when it is resting it holds its hindwings above
its forewings making for an interesting shape.
For more information on moths and butterflies, contact
butterfly-conservation.org
Butterfly Conservation is a charity that ‘uses its
research to provide advice on how to conserve
and restore butterfly and moth habitats’.
Top: Musk Mallow (Malva moschata)
Above: A Buff-tip moth
Help and advice
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