UK moths

[Martin Hough]

These will almost certainly be male Operophtera brumata- the Winter Moth
(the females are wingless). Numbers are likely also to be enhanced with a
few Operophtera fagata- Northern Winter Moth and some straggling November
Moths (Epirrita dilutata). It's now too late for the other abundant autumnal
woodland species-  the inappropriately named Scarce Umber, which far
outnumbers the Mottled Umber.

The sheer numbers of Winter Moths does in some small measure make up for the
paucity of species in the UK at this time of year


Jacques Francis <jacques.francis at oznone.co.uk> wrote in message
news:945121385.12645.0.nnrp-14.c29fdc4a at news.demon.co.uk...
> Driving along quiet single-track country roads in wooded Surrey tonight
> (13-Dec-99), with the car's thermometer showing 0 to -2 and after a day of
> dank grey overcast with long periods of rain (yes, I'd rather be in
> Barbados), I caught at least 30 moths in the headlights. They all looked
> about the same in size and colour - buff, and were quickly flapping their
> wings. As I don't know a great deal about moths, I was surprised to see
any
> at all at these low temperatures.
>
> Does anybody know if this is normal and I've been rather unobservant in
the
> past, or whether it's unusual. What sends moths to bed for the winter, and
> are there some that come out irrespective of the weather?
>
> Jacques Francis
>
>