Recent event spotlight: “Magical” Moth Night
Ellen, Energy Garden’s Biodiversity Lead, here to tell you about our first ever Moth Night.
While we didn’t end up catching any moths in the moth trap, spirits were still high as community members joined Energy Garden and Butterfly Conservation to conduct the first moth survey at Energy Garden HQ.
Some quotes from participants speak to how much fun was had:
“It was the perfect mix of educational and fun! A great reason to leave the house after sunset in autumn.”
“I never appreciated how many moths we are blessed with in the UK…”
And one participant even described the evening as “magical”.
The group checking on the moth trap.
You might be wondering what is moth trapping? It is a way to survey night-flying moths by using a bright light to attract and temporarily trap the moths in a container. To amplify the light’s brightness, we hung a white sheet behind the trap.
A host of factors could explain the lack of moths getting caught in the moth trap. These include the time of year, survey duration, and weather. We look forward to re-surveying the garden and are excited to add a moth-friendly focus to our network of gardens next year.
The moth trap set-up in the garden.
Another highlight of the evening was the Moth Trivia game. Most questions stirred up a lot of interesting discussions and gave attendees a greater understanding of some of the 2500 species of moths in the UK.
Moth Trivia in progress.
Test your knowledge with this trivia question example (answer at the end of this blog post).
The peppered moth is known for evolution in:
Colour
Food source
Size
The digital microscope was also on hand to look up close at the moth specimen brought in by Butterfly Conservation. We saw Arctia caja (garden tiger moth) and Lasiocampa quercus (oak eggar moth) at various stages of life (egg, caterpillar, pupa, and adult). We also combed through many guidebooks to get a better sense of the variety and beauty of the UK’s moth species.
The digital microscopes and guidebooks being used.
A Lasiocampa quercus (oak eggar) caterpillar.
A cocoon under the microscope.
I am really looking forward to organising more biodiversity-focused sessions. Check out our events page to see what’s coming up.
See you soon! - Ellen
Trivia Answer: 1. Colour.
This is a famous example of evolution by natural selection as pollution from the industrial revolution made the darker form more successful. This was due to lichen being killed on trees and soot darkening them making the darker form better suited to camouflage on the trees and avoid predators. As air quality improvement measures were implemented, the paler form has become more common once again. For more information, visit this page: https://butterfly-conservation.org/moths/why-moths-matter/amazing-moths/peppered-moth-and-natural-selection