MOTHS

Most of the moths depicted in the following pages have been caught using light traps, then identified, photographed and released unharmed. I have been lucky in that a number of people, far more knowledgeable, have helped in the identification of some of the more difficult species. For those just taking up an interest in moths, the so-called ‘macro’ moths are sometimes hard enough to identify let alone the ‘micros’. I have tended to concentrate on the larger species although the lure of looking closely at some of the very beautifully marked micros is always there and cannot be ignored! For interest you can view my Whitley Bay garden moth list for 2005-2010 inclusive and the 2010 list for Eshott, a new trapping site.

As a newcomer to the identification of moths I found the Field Guide to the Moths of Great Britain and Ireland by Waring & Townsend to be invaluable as the plates show moths in their ‘normal’ resting position and at life-size. You can now obtain this book in a concise version which has the same plates but with a reduced amount of text. Other references that I use are The Colour Identification Guide to Moths of the British Isles by B. Skinner and British Pyralid Moths by Barry Goater. The numbers preceding names on captions are the British Checklist numbers.

Nearly all of these moth photographs were taken with a Nikon Coolpix 4500 digital camera although a small number were taken with a Panasonic Lumix FZ18

Checklist nos. 921 - 1096

Checklist nos. 1097 - 1287