December 2019 - Moths

We’ve had a couple of moths in the garden recently.  Actually, we have probably had hundreds, we just haven’t seen most of them.  The two that I’m talking about weren’t attracted by the moth trap, which we haven’t actually used recently, but were discovered in full daylight.   The first was a moth found early in the morning apparently lifeless, balanced on the door mirror of the car.  A gentle prod made it slide off the mirror, but some instinct made it put out a leg and cling to a tiny ledge at the base of the mirror.  Thus suspended it was easy to lift from the mirror and once on the warmth of the hand it spread the rest of its legs with just the sort of grumpy shrug you may expect from disturbing a teenager before midday.  Once photographed it was transferred to a more natural and secure location to continue its sleep.  The moth in question was a ‘Merveille du Jour’ which even with my limited French vocabulary I could translate as ‘Wonder of the Day’.It is a very pretty and bright green moth that helps give the lie to the idea that most moths are dull because they only fly at night.  The Merveille du Jour does fly at night especially in September and October and we have seen several in the moth trap.  This makes me wonder then, why is the moth so called when there are plenty of moths that do fly during the day with nothing in their name to suggest a daytime habit?

Merveille du Jour - Dichonia aprilina

The second moth that we saw does have a daytime habit and is marveled at by many when it is seen – the humming-bird hawkmoth.  Both moths were seen in the first week of November – the humming-bird hawk-moth on one of the rare sunny days.  It flew up onto the wall of the house in full sunshine and basked there for an hour or more.  When the heat from the sun faded it flew onto the last few flowers of the verbena for a quick snack before flying off.  Humming-bird hawkmoths have been hibernating and breeding in the south-west of the country for a number of years now and we found one a couple of years ago hibernating in our carport which suggests that their breeding range is spreading northwards and eastwards.  The behaviour of this most recent one suggests that it may be doing the same.  The one essential component for breeding is the food plant of the caterpillars which is lady’s or heath bedstraw which we don’t yet have in the garden.

Hummingbird Hawkmoth on Blackcurrant Sage

The adult moths with their long proboscis feed only on nectar and they favour plants that have a deep nectary such as lavender, verbena, and in our garden at least, blackcurrant sage (Salvia microphylla var. microphylla) that has a long flowering period and plenty of nectar.  I found an interesting article recently about humming-bird hawk-moths dying in Bulgaria.  They were feeding on an introduced plant (from America) called white evening-primrose.  This is also known as pink ladies, or pink evening-primrose – Oenothera speciosa.  Apparently glandular hairs inside the nectar tube corresponded with grooves in the proboscis in such a way that the insect is not able to withdraw its tongue.  The insect then exhausts itself trying to escape and eventually dies.  So if you are thinking of planting any white evening-primroses, then please don’t – insects are having a hard enough time as it is.  (I have just discovered that blackcurrant sage is also an import from Central and South America.  Luckily, the moth has no trouble taking nectar from it.)

We are on holiday in the Canary Islands at the moment getting used to a different set of wildlife.  There are plenty of familiar species though – the crow family is well represented with choughs and ravens and we have seen a lot of painted lady butterflies – they really do get everywhere.

The Hummingbird Hawkmoth at rest could easily be overlooked