Williamson's Weekly Nature Notes

People now love the possible 17 species that roam our evening skies in the UK and want to protect them. The same might still be said for moths. They are starting to be accepted. No longer are they just nasty things that get into the clothes.

There is a whole new world of exquisite species out there which deserve our admiration. Experts have recently spent two years in a Sussex wood finding out which moths lived in the coppice and grassy rides.

Using light traps six nights each year when the weather was warm and calm, they discovered 306 different species in just one small grassy glade. The site is managed for wildlife, with hazel coppice cut on a regular eight-year rotation.

Oak and ash standards are cropped and replanted. There are wide grass rides to make deer culling possible. The reserve of only 40 acres teems with butterflies and birds, as well as many other rare insects. But the moth total surprised us all and shows just how rich little plots of Sussex woodland can be if only their owners would manage these properly for wildlife.

The moths caught, identified, and released comprised 59 micro moths, which obviously are usually tiny, and 246 macros, the size that people easily notice and see in car headlights.

There are well over 2,500 species of moth in the British Isles. Most were named over two centuries ago during the Romantic Age when art and science combined. So the 'maiden's blush' appears in our Sussex woods, with its delicate size and complexion across the wings giving the name.

Close relatives are the Mochas, named after the Arabian town which produced a fine grained coffee and with which the semi-precious chalcedony family of quartz are linked.

Both describe the fine grains of colour that suffuse the wings of these little moths. The ghost, small phoenix, July highflyer, foxglove pug, and burnished brass are among the super names that add a dash of colour to this tribe of insects that have for too long been written off as boring by the majority of people.

How can you ignore the ruby tiger, rosy footman, and satin beauty? They may even be flying in your own garden, beating at your windows in the night. A whole new world lies out there waiting to be unlocked.