By Peter Hall
It is always with some trepidation that I travel across the frontier from Ballinger to The Lee. It’s usually to play cricket or attend the Sunday quiz at the Cock and Rabbit. This time it was to run moth traps in
St John the Baptist churchyard!
This event was originally planned to coincide with a Lee Common scout meeting,
but the weather was so bad it had to be postponed. Luckily I had quite a
few impressive hawk-moths caught from my garden to show the scouts on the
scheduled day; they seemed thoroughly impressed. The largest of which is
the Privet Hawk-moth, which measures some 120 mm wing tip to wing tip (that’s
nearly 5 inches in old money).It’s why my privet hedge is still uncut. Birds may have finished nesting, but Privet Hawk caterpillars haven’t finished feeding up.
Although I have been recording moths for many years, this was the first time to record species in a cemetery. I am blessed with the title of Bucks Moth Officer, an enviable post to one and all I’m sure, and on the evening of 19th July I was accompanied by the Bucks County Moth Recorder, Martin Albertini. Being a keen Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan (similar to Abba, everyone likes the show, but no-one is brave enough to admit it), I was prepared for a plethora of rising zombies and indeed, when a muntjac sounded a loud bark a few metres away from where we sat, I nearly joined those dearly departed souls resting around me. There is a moth called a Ghost, so called because the large white male flies up and down (vertically) amid long grass and is supposed to resemble a very small ghost. It can be seen at twighlight, but not on this night.
In the end all was well, but I wonder how many of those people driving past
in their cars looked across at the eerie light coming from the churchyard
and began to wonder...Despite the poor recent weather, we recorded a total of 71 species of moth, running two light traps from around 10 pm until midnight.
I should explain. A moth trap is a simple design. It is essentially a large box with a special light on top. The light emits white light and a range of UV that moths like and they fly towards the light and drop into the box below. This box is filled with egg boxes to provide resting spots for the moths, where they fall asleep as it is well lit. At the end of the night, the trap is emptied and the species recorded. All moths were released unharmed.
Many of the English names for moths were penned by the Victorians and so are quite descriptive, simple names like Lobster moth – so called because the caterpillar supposedly looks like a lobster. Then there are more flowery names like Small Fan-footed Wave and then the descriptive ones – like Bright-line Brown-eye – named because it has a light brown line across a dark brown wing with a spot, or stigma which is brighter than the surrounding wing colour. To confuse all there’s also a moth called a Brown-line Bright-eye. All of those named were caught in the churchyard. Then there are the micro moths, many with Latin names only like Tinea semifulvella or Agapeta zoegana. By far the most colourful moth of the night was the Elephant Hawk-moth with its tinges of lime green and pink. We caught seven of these.
The final photo shows a range of moths – four in all. Left bottom is a micro
moth called Rhopobota naevana (Holly Tortrix moth), top left is the grass
moth that you all disturb at this time of year during the day when you walk
across grass – called Chrysoteucha culmella (Garden Grass-veneer moth). Centre
bottom is a Common Footman, named because the yellow stripe around a grey
centre likens it to a foot soldier. And on the right is an Elephant Hawk,
named because the caterpillar resembles an elephant’s trunk.Your gardens are full of moths and almost all of them do not eat clothes. I’ve recorded over 600 species in my garden.
Take care and watch out for strange lights late at night, especially in cemeteries, you never know what’s going on!