Moth is a highlight of summer
THIS is part two of my celebration of spotty insects (ladybirds last week) after lots and lots of encounters with wonderful burnet moths.
There are patches of greater knapweed on our Brockholes nature reserve and this lovely purple plant attracts dozens of these day-flying insects.
You will spot them on the flowers just feeding and feeding for ages.
They have black wings with red spots and red underwings which show when they are flying.
Burnets are the most brilliant-looking insects and when I point them out to visitors to our reserves they are charmed and amazed at the same time.
There are a couple of kinds of burnet moth but the most common are six spot and five spot. They fly with a slow, buzzing and fluttering pattern.
They are commonly found in grasslands, woodland rides and sand dunes, where the black and yellow caterpillars feed on common bird’s-foot-trefoil.
The adults feed on the nectar of knapweed, thistles and other grassland flowers and females lay their eggs on the caterpillars’ food plants.
The caterpillars hatch and feed, hibernating over at least one winter.
The moths emerge the following spring and pupate in a papery cocoon attached to grass stems.
Coming out in the daytime, burnet moths are safe from attack by hungry birds because they taste yucky and are slightly poisonous. This is advertised to hungry predators by their bright red wing spots.
They are flying at the moment and they certainly knock the belief that butterflies are more beautiful than moths.
Of course butterflies are in full flight at the moment too and, after only spotting one or two in our garden this summer, I found a patch of brambles on the reserve where there were lots of them of all shapes and sizes – comma, ringlets, red admiral and meadow brown.
There is so much colour around at the moment it is fabulous, it really makes me smile when I see the moths, butterflies and damselflies fluttering around.
The only problem is that my mouth is wide open in awe and, the other day, a big fly flew straight in, making me cough and splutter for about five minutes to the annoyance of other insect spotters nearby.
The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside is dedicated to the protection and promotion of the wildlife in Lancashire, seven boroughs of Greater Manchester and four of Merseyside, all lying north of the River Mersey. It manages around 40 nature reserves and 20 Local Nature Reserves covering acres of woodland, wetland, upland and meadow. The Trust has 29,000 members and over 1,200 volunteers. To become a member of the Trust go to the website at www.lancswt.org.uk or call 01772 324129. For more information call 01948 820728 or go to cheshirewildlifetrust. org.uk.