Recently there was the nationwide Big Butterfly Count (unfortunately the weather didn’t help) but here at Nant-y-Bedd we had our very own Big Moth Count.

Our friend Sheelagh and her sister Lesley turned up with three moth traps which they arranged in the potager and the meadow one Thursday evening. Any passing spy satellite would have been most intrigued by three lights glowing away where it should have been dark.

The moths were also very interested and popped in for a look around. Finding a cosy home they snuggled up in the egg boxes in the traps and awaited the morning.

Starting at around 5am – yes, there is such a time – Sheelagh, Lesley and Sue worked their way through hundreds and hundreds of moths, painstakingly checking each one against the official guide books and came up with 64 different species. Here’s a list of them – check out the wonderful names!

Moth List Nant y Bedd 15^th August 2022 

3 traps: 2 in the meadow (M) and 1 by the tea house/potager (G) 

Location of traps: SO 25694 26761 & SO 25710 26823 

List of moth species with numbers caught:

Macro moths

1. Barred Hook-tip 2 (1M & 1G)
2. Barred Red 1G
3. Black Arches 4 (1M & 3G)
4. Brimstone Moth 3 (1M & 2G)
5. Buff Footman Lots M&G
6. Canary-shouldered Thorn 1M
7. Centre-barred Sallow 1G
8. Clouded Magpie 3 (1M & 2G)
9. Common Footman Lots M&G
10. Common Marbled Carpet 4 (3M & 1G)
11. Common Rustic 8 (3M & 5G)
12. Common Wainscot 1M
13. Coxcomb Prominent 1M
14. Dark Arches 4 (3M & 1G)
15. Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet 1M
16. Dark Marbled Carpet 16 (7M & 19G)
17. Dingy Footman Lots M&G
18. Double Square-spot 2M
19. Dotted Clay 3 (1M & 2G)
20. Dun-bar 1M
21. Early Thorn 2G
22. Ear Moth 1M
23. Flame Carpet 8 (2M & 6G)
24. Flame Shoulder 2 (1M & 1G)
25. Flounced Rustic 7 (3M & 4G)
26. Green Carpet 1G
27. Gold Spot 1M
28. Iron Prominent 1M
29. July Highflyer 21 (10M & 11G)
30. Large Yellow Underwing 11 (8M & 3G)
31. Least Yellow Underwing 1M
32. Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing 60 (20M & 40G)
33. Lesser Swallow Prominent 3 (2M & 1G)
34. Mottled Beauty 1G
35. Pale Prominent 1M
36. Pebble Hook-tip 2M
37. Peppered Moth 2 (1M & 1G)
38. Poplar Hawkmoth 1M
39. Purple Bar 1G
40. Purple Thorn 2 (1M & 1G)
41. Red Twin-spot Carpet 6 (5M & 1G)
42. Riband Wave 4G
43. Six-striped Rustic 3M
44. Small Fan-footed Wave 3G
45. Small Phoenix 11 (3M & 8G)
46. Small Rivulet 1G
47. Snout 1M 1G
48. Spruce Carpet 3 (2M & 1G)
49. Square-spot Rustic 5 (4M & 1G)

Micro moths

• Acrobasis advenella (Grey knot-horn) 1M
• Agonopterix ocellana 1M
• Argyresthia goedartella (Golden Argent) 1M
• Blastobasis adustella (Furness Dowd) 3G
• Catoptria pinella (Pearl Grass-veneer) 1M
• Cnephasisa agg. 1M
• Cydia splendana 2 (1M & 1G)
• Dark Fruit-tree Tortrix (Pandemis heparana) 1G
• ?Dioryctria abietella 1G
• Eudonia mercurella (Small Grey) Lots M&G
• Mompha subbistrigella (Garden Cosmet) 1G
• Mother of Pearl 3M
• Scoparia subfusca (Large Grey) 3G
• Udea lutealis (Pale Straw Pearl) 1M
• Yponomeuta malinellus (Apple Ermine) 3 (2M & 1G)

Identification by Sheelagh and Lesley Kerry 

Many of them are specific to a single plant species, which is why it is so important to grow as many different types of plant as possible. The Clouded Magpie below feeds almost entirely on Wych Elm and the Poplar Hawk Moth (at the top of this blog) on Aspen and Willow (here, as we don’t have Poplar!)

If you want to attract lots of moths to your garden, Sheelagh and Lesley also provided a list of the best plants for them.

List of moth plants:

Evening Primrose

Buddleia

Night-flowering Catchfly

Night-scented Stock

Sweet Rocket

Nicotiana sensation mixed (good for Hummingbird hawkmoths)

Fuschia

Vipers Bugloss

Red Campion

Verbena bonariensis

Red Valerian

Bedstraws

Comfrey

Marjoram

Native trees especially Oaks

Spindle

Privet

Bramble

Honeysuckle

Ivy

Foxglove

Nettles

Ferns

Lilac

Heather

Knapweed

Ragwort

Finally, it’s not just moths who like snuggling up in a moth trap. Some wonderful Eyed Ladybirds, one of the largest native ladybirds, also managed to find a cosy home for the night.

Just to put your minds at rest, no moths or ladybirds were injured in the process and all were put back into the wild for another day.