In terms of overall numbers, 2024 was a very poor year for moths, as it was for butterflies and several other groups of insects. Numbers of moths in my trap were the lowest in the 11 years I’ve been trapping here, and my experience mirrors that of other recorders, both in Norfolk and further afield. That said, the variety of species recorded here held up surprisingly well last year. I ran a trap on 64 nights, and recorded 470 species; 21 of these were new for the garden, taking the total garden list to 799 species. 7 of the new species for the garden were macro moths, including Emperor Moth (which came to a commercially-available pheromone lure) and the migrant Gem.
It was a particularly poor year for Hawk-moths. I recorded just 4 species here (Eyed, Poplar, Privet and Elephant) and, of these, only Elephant was at all common – in fact, in the last few years, it seems to be taking over from Poplar as the commonest hawk-moth in my garden.
Although numbers of moths are in long-term decline, distribution is changing quite rapidly with climate change: some species which were, until recently, scarce migrants in Britain are now colonizing, presumably as they become able to survive our winters; and others, which were previously confined to southern England, are now moving rapidly north. The attractive Coronet is one species which is increasing rapidly here; first recorded in my garden in 2020, I trapped a total of 20 on 9 nights last year. Another colonizer is the mint-green coloured Tree-lichen Beauty, which I trapped on three occasions last year. There are two other spectacular moths it’s worth looking out for. The first of these is Clifden Nonpareil, sometimes known as the Blue Underwing, which was the holy grail for Victorian collectors; vanishingly rare at that time, it’s now colonizing various parts of England, including Norfolk. I’ve only recorded it once here so far, but more records can be expected. The second species is Jersey Tiger; until recently, confined to the Channel Islands (hence the English name) and the south coast, it’s become common in the London area and parts of the home counties and is spreading rapidly north. Already quite widespread in south Suffolk and south Cambridgeshire, it’s heading our way! There have only been about 20 records in Norfolk as yet, but friends of mine trapped one in their Snettisham garden last year, and I’m looking forward to my first record here.
For anyone who wants to know more about moths in Norfolk, www.norfolkmoths.co.uk is an excellent website, showing photos, distribution maps, flight times and much more. There’s also a “flying tonight” page, which shows which species are most numerous at the current time of year.
Finally, it’s worth mentioning the moth mornings at RSPB Titchwell, which I run along with two other volunteers. These take place every Wednesday morning, from the beginning of April (or from Easter, when that falls in March) until the end of October. We generally run three traps on the Tuesday night and go through them the following morning, potting one or more examples of each species we find to show to visitors, before releasing them around lunchtime.
Roger Ward
7 February 2025