Moths (July 2010)

If one could rank insects by popularity, moths would be a long way from the top. Unlike their beautiful cousins, the butterflies, most are drab and nocturnal. Thus we are most likely to encounter them when a particularly large specimen begins to crash around the lamp by an open window in the dead of night . . .

This can produce heart-stopping moments when it jerks you awake in the dead of night, but at least it is harmless. Far more irritating is opening a chest to discover a favourite winter sweater or coat has been ruined by tiny clothes moth larvae.
Outside, gardeners curse cutworms (actually moth larvae) and the pine shoot moth is a major problem in conifer plantations. So the case for the prosecution seems clear – these are at best drab and stupid, at worst troublesome in the extreme.
Not surprisingly, the reality is a bit more complex. Certainly most of Britain’s 2,400 resident species of moth are small, brown and nocturnal, but there are marked exceptions. The emperor moth is bright green and pink, for example, while the humming bird hawk moth is an increasingly common daytime visitor to gardens where it hovers in front of scented plants to sip nectar like its namesake.
Back to the problems, however, the most common of which is probably the inability to cope with artificial light. Until recently it was thought they flew towards these believing them to be the moon, but scientists now think the answer is structural. Their eyes are designed to operate in very low light levels so bright lights ‘burn’ out the sensors. Instead of seeing a lamp as a beacon, the insect registers it as pitch dark – in other words when it bangs into the shade it is actually trying to flee in the opposite direction. 
This leaves the undoubted problems of damage to clothes and crops. This should not be taken out of proportion, however. Thanks to the growth in manmade fibres, frequent laundering and central heating (they require damp, cool, conditions) clothes moths are far less of a problem than formerly.
But if some can be harmful, just as many are genuinely beneficial. Take the cinnabar moth, a brightly coloured red white and black species. This is virtually the only creature to eat the poisonous ragwort which is the bane of horse lovers.
And in general terms, many species seem to be in decline, probably thanks to more intensive farming which has reduced many of the weeds on which they depend. This is a particular problem for hundreds of creatures which rely on moths for food.
Great tits, for example, time their clutches to coincide with the explosion in oak moth caterpillars in late spring. When abnormal weather moves this back or forwards by even a few days, the results can be disastrous for the birds. Scores of other songbirds also rely on moth caterpillars while nocturnal nightjars and bats feast on the flying adults. Without moths, our fields and woods would be far less attractive to wildlife.

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