Have you seen a beautiful Elephant Hawk Moth, a Burnished Brass or a Ruby Tiger? Nocturnal pollinators can be so easily overlooked because they are active when we are asleep, yet they play an essential role within our ecosystem and are as important as bees and butterflies. Their numbers have dropped significantly – by 28% since 1968, and by 40% in southern Britain – impacting wildlife that rely on them for food, such as birds, bats, and small mammals. Decline is a result of habitat loss from agriculture, urbanisation, light pollution and climate change, which also shifts species distributions and lifecycles.
Moth Facts
Moths have been around since the start of the Jurassic period, more than 19om years ago
The first butterflies evolved from moths at least 50m years ago
Today there are around 2500 species of moth in the UK but only 59 species of butterfly
A group of moths is called an eclipse
Some of the 80 species of moth that appear in the data used for Moth x Human.
Ruby Tiger I Brimstone I Poplar Hawk I Common Carpet I Central Barrred Sallow I Muslin Footman I Rosy Footman I July Highflyer I Elephant Hawk I Burnished Brass I Small Magpie I Common Footman I Lesser Yellow Underwing I Dusky Sallow I Large Yellow Underwing I Flounced Chestnut I Antler Moth
Find out more about my new piece Moth x Human here
Further reading
Discover how you can create a moon meadow at home and in your local area and help our nighttime pollinators thrive. Free download leaflet