Moth diary July 2012

June and July are the best months for seeing and photographing moths. The warm humid nights are highly productive. Moths are often described as dull boring insects with no real useful purpose other than to fossilize themselves on our car bonnets and radiator grills. This could not be farther from the truth. Many are beautifully coloured, but not all fly at night. Many species fly in daylight and other are frequently disturbed from foliage and low-growing vegetation by day.

 Scientifically there is no difference between butterflies and moths, the term is an artificially created one, which help us distinguish butterflies from their mainly nocturnal cousins! Apart from a few diagnostic differences, such as clubbed antenna in butterflies, the rest are only minor.

 One of my main aims of this monthly post is to photographically illustrate a selection of species throughout the year, showing not only the beauty, but also the amazing diversity between species.

 Buff Arches Habrosyne pyritoides

 This is an attractive and highly photogenic species. The adults are richly marked, especially when freshly emerged. The forewings are pale grey with whitish streaks, which are suffused with buff between them. There is a whitish blotch along the edge of the forewings. The hind wings are pale greyish brown.

 The moth occurs mainly in open woodland, hedgerows, bogs and occasionally in gardens. Adults rest during the day usually among leaves and ground vegetation or sometimes on the branches of trees.