Marvellous Moths

Now that David is on sabbatical, I thought it was about time I made an appearance on the wildlife blog again. Luckily for me, during our annual Working With Wood Week, the wonderful Bekkie Thomson set up a moth trap to help us survey some of the nocturnal winged creatures we have here in the woods.

The morning reveal did not disappoint!

Thank you to Sophie Foxwell for the photos.

Picture one: Elephant Hawk Moth

2: Biscuit fluffy antlers

3: Black and white beauty

4: Buff Tip

5 & 6: Lesser Swallow Prominent

7: Bekkie - help!

We are working on carrying out more wildlife surveys so we can have a better idea of who we are sharing the woods with and how best to protect them. We continue with the Bee Walk (with the Bumblebee Conservation Trust) which happens from March to October.

We were treated to a bird walk earlier in the summer to help us identify bird song, and we are looking forward to a possible visit from a local entomologist with a particular interest in hover flies. I’d love to learn more about our bats too, so if you have, or know anyone with some expertise who would be interested in coming to share some geekery, please do get in touch!

We’ve formed a recent partnership with Weald to Waves, so we can try and link up what we know about our creatures with other local projects to help aid in their protection and ability to move around our landscape - more on this to follow!

Kate - kateandjake@wildernesswood.org