Plants, Wildlife

#30DaysWild Day 9 – Moth Night, this week

Moths weren’t captured by camera on my first garden wander at 9pm last night. Wild flowers and a snail were. It was a cooler night after some rain breaking through at some point earlier in the evening. I didn’t see how much but looking around the garden I could tell it was a sprinkling. My attempt at filling watering cans from my water butt to top-up my suffering wildlife pond confirmed that.

Moths were on my mind with a second wander just after 10:30pm as it was being to turn dark (although it never gets properly dark at this time of year). I’ve noticed white flowers attract moths, but have seen them resting on ivy leaves too. I went to a border I expected to see them and a couple moved, one briefly in range of a photo. Getting photo captures though, I struggle with that.

There’s something about moths that don’t make me feel completely relaxed. I’d guess their visits indoors buzzing about lights is behind that and I’m not the only one. However, through blogs and twitter I’ve seen fascinating images of quite beautiful moths and I’d love to capture images and identify which ones visit my garden. I just have to not jump holding the camera when they move towards me!

JUN 9: Orange flowers of Foxes & cubs opening & yellow Bird’s-foot-trefoil

JUN 9: Snail tucked away, tucking away on Dog’s tooth violet leaves

JUN 9: Yay… first of Ox-eye daisy flowers open! I love daisy flowers 🙂

JUN 9: 10:35pm with outside lighting, the glorious Wisteria flowers 🙂

Moths did fly below and towards the Wisteria flowers which was great to see. Ha-ha, they were moving away from me! Anyway, I will continue to take odd evening ventures into the garden to see what visits. Please do share your tips on capturing moth photos from your garden, using moth traps (especially homemade ones) and your moth stories in comments 🙂

If you are in the UK and moths are your thing you might be interested in this week’s event, Moth Night 2018 which will be held between 14th – 16th June. They have a theme which is Pyralid Moths and you can take part in day and night events. Some info from their website below. @MothNight on twitter is also a fun way to follow this event, hear stories and see images too.

“Organised by Atropos, Butterfly Conservation and the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Moth Night is the annual celebration of moth recording throughout Britain and Ireland by moth recording enthusiasts with local public events aimed at raising awareness of moths among the general public.

Moth Night is normally confined to the warmest months; each event will last for three consecutive nights (Thursday – Saturday) and will take place on different date periods every year. You can participate on any one or more of these days or nights.

Participants are not required to comply with the theme and are encouraged to do their own thing.

In association with the Biological Records Centre at the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, we have designed an easy-to-use Indicia-based online recording system available from the first day of the event until the deadline for data entry.”

Moth Night, 14th -16th June 2018

This post was published by Shirley for shirls gardenwatch in June 2018.

4 thoughts on “#30DaysWild Day 9 – Moth Night, this week

  1. Isn’t it strange how moths and butterflies illicit quite different emotions in some people. Lots of white flowers have stronger perfume in the evening too. I love dog daisies – a roundabout near to us is covered with them – it looks like snow.

  2. Sorry Lisa @ Greenbow, I mistakenly deleted your comment when removing a spam one that got through. I'll try to remember what you said 🙂

    Lisa @ Greenbow commented that she liked the snail photo but didn't care for them on her plants. She also mentioned that a white sheet with a light behind it could attract moths for ID and less jumpy photos.

  3. Hello to you both, gosh just where have the last 6 months gone? Thanks for your comments they are very much appreciated 🙂

    Sue, yes, you are absolutely right. I love to see wild flower planting on roundabouts, it is quite magical to me. I love the white flower snow look too 🙂

    Lisa, I don’t care for the damage snails have been doing to my plants. I wish they would move out of the corners in my hedgehog feeding station too. We have plans there, will they work though time will tell. I keep meaning to try the white sheet and light, maybe this year 

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