Hi All,
Spotted this on my lettuce - anyone recognise it? We get lots of "big brown" moths roosting in the woodpile nearby which the bats enjoy, but not seen one of these before.
and more basic question, moth or butterfly or other?
Thanks all.
how sweet. no idea what it is though. the curator of the bournemouth natural science society recently told me that there is no difference between moths and butterflys its just that moths mainly come out during th eday and butterflies in the daytime. i think thats what he said.
It's a moth, but without a dedicated moth reference I've no way of tracking it down, as there are too many of them. butterflies and moths both belong to the order Lepidoptera, and butterflies form one of the superfamilies within that order. The others are all moths. So no, there is no great difference.
Maybe it is the Common Swift (Hepiaulus lupulina). The male apparently has distinctive makings on the wings whilst the female normally has plain wings.
Swift moths are appaently members of a primitive family. They are very common in open countryside, usually flying at dusk.
I think it is the Ghost Moth Hepialus humuli.
http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?id=507
What a lovely picture of a beautiful moth. ;D Unfortunately the larva feed on the roots of lettuce. See also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_Moth
:-[ night time... i meant nightime ...for the moths.
Bingo Pauline! That's the one. It was sat on the lettuce for several hours and I did wonder if it had recently hatched. Looking at the references you gave, it's in the Ghost moth equivalent of Tesco - almost all of those plants are within 10ft of where it was sat ( no cannabis nearby of course....) :o
I can spare a few lettuce for the wildlife - I'm already feeding plenty other species of catterpillars, butterflies, moths, birds, mice, voles, pigeons ( a sub class not really related to the lovely birds) spiders, ants slugs, snails, earwigs, frogs, toads, aphids, grubs, etc etc etc.
and good news on the bird front - the bird I accidentally disturbed big time on it's nest is back sitting in it - fingers crossed :D Can't see what the bird is without more major disturbance so just keeing an eye on the area for whats flying in and out.