NATURE NOTES

Moths in May

The perfectly-timed appearance of many insect species throughout May, including moths and butterflies, coincides with the search by nesting birds to feed their young. Many insects are cleverly camouflaged to blend with their surroundings, the Buff-tip moth resembling a broken twig whilst in its resting daytime state.

Larvae too, often have the most amazing disguises to ensure that some will survive to complete their life cycle. More of the spectacular Hawkmoth species will start to emerge now, including the strikingly coloured Small Elephant Hawk-moth.

Garden ponds will be teeming with life. By torchlight you may be lucky enough to find all three native newt species occurring in this area of Dorset, including the rare and highly protected Great Crested Newt.

Buff-tip moth Small Elephant Hawk-moth

Palmate and Smooth newts also have protection by law.

Early flowering plants and shrubs are visited on sunny days by many insects, including hoverflies, of which there are approaching three hundred recorded species in the British Isles. The larvae of many hoverflies feed on aphids, making them welcome visitors to gardens. Hoverflies are harmless mimics of stinging insects, including bumblebees

Hoverfly Hoverfly

and wasps, their brightly coloured often striped markings making then easy to mistake for some of those perhaps lesswelcome species.

To sit quietly on a warm day near flowering plants in a sunny situation will always reward with sightings of insect life, whose amazingly diverse form and colour make them fascinating to observe.

Gill Nash