Magical moths of Jenny’s Well

Friday 17^th July 2026

We had a magical evening of mothing led by Gordon Phillips and hosted by Friends of Jenny’s Well.  At 9:30pm Gordon and other local moth experts, Paul Tatner and Paul Mapplebeck, set up their moth traps at various locations around the ponds area of the reserve. It was a warm, balmy evening, perfect conditions for humans and moths.  Thankfully there were few midges about.  Whilst Gordon and the two Pauls were busy setting up the traps, Friends of Jenny’s Well were setting up a gazebo with chairs and table with refreshments, including delicious shortbread baked by Anne Philips.

Once the light faded we were kept very busy checking for moths flying around the traps, catching them, identifying them and logging them. All those identified were noted down and others which needed to be studied in more detail were set aside for later identification.

A white sheet was placed under one of the traps and it was easy to capture moths landing on that with the sample tubs, for others we used nets and then transferred them to the tubs. Some moths were more attracted to Judy’s hat and we had a good try at catching them with the net, trying not to knock Judy out in the process!  Another method we used was torching.  We walked around areas of the reserve with bright torches and capturing any moths that flew into the beam with a net. That enabled us to get moths from a range of different habitats.

At 1am we stopped and started packing up. We released the moths which had been identified and the rest, the ones that needed more careful consideration, were taken home by Gordon to identify.  Altogether, we managed to capture 140 moths of 44 species.  The most common moths captured were the Dun-bar, closely followed by the Shaded Broad Bar and Small Fan-footed Wave.

Report by Kirsty Menzies

Photographs by Gordon Phillips, Mike Wigg and Kirsty Menzies

Many thanks to Gordon and Friends of Jenny’s Well for organizing equipment, providing refreshments and delivering a fabulous evening which we all thoroughly enjoyed.

Download a printable pdf of the report here.

Species List

(46 different species, 143 moths)

10	Small Fan-footed Wave	Idaea biselata
10	Shaded Broad-bar	Scotopteryx chenopodiata
2	Early Thorn	Selenia dentaria
1	Pallid Grey	Eudonia pallida
7	Smoky Wainscot	Mythimna impura
2	Antler Moth	Cerapteryx graminis
5	Brimstone Moth	Opisthograptis luteolata
2	Mother of Pearl	Patania ruralis
9	Snout	Hypena proboscidalis
7	Oak Longhorn	Carcina quercana
1	White-line Pollen-moth	Micropterix aruncella
1	Bird-cherry Ermine	Yponomeuta evonymella
4	Straw Dot	Rivula sericealis
1	Grey Dagger	Acronicta psi
13	Dun-bar	Cosmia trapezina
1	Common White Wave	Cabera pusaria
4	Mottled Beauty	Alcis repandata
8	Dark Arches	Apamea monoglypha
7	Buff Footman	Eilema depressa
2	Riband Wave	Idaea aversata
2	Slender Brindle	Apamea scolopacina
1	Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing	Noctua fimbriata
1	Magpie Moth	Abraxas grossulariata
2	July Highflyer	Hydriomena furcata
1	Flame Carpet	Xanthorhoe designata
1	Burnished Brass	Diachrysia chrysitis
1	Scalloped Oak	Crocallis elinguaria
1	Dotted Carpet	Alcis jubata
1	Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet	Xanthorhoe ferrugata
2	Pale Straw Pearl	Udea lutealis
1	V-Pug	Chloroclystis v-ata
2	Small Dotted Buff	Photedes minima
2	Dotted Clay	Xestia baja
1	Yellow-barred Brindle	Acasis viretata
1	Triple-spotted Clay	Xestia ditrapezium
4	Double Square-spot	Xestia triangulum
1	Small Square-spot	Diarsia rubi
4	Common Grey	Scoparia ambigualis
1	Tawny Grey	Eudonia lacustrata
1	Hawthorn Knot-horn	Acrobasis advenella
5	Common Knapweed Tortrix	Eucosma hohenwartiana
1	Bramble Shoot Moth	Notocelia uddmanniana
3	Hoary Tortrix	Eucosma cana
4	Straw Grass-moth	Agriphila straminella
1	Flame	Axylia putris
1	Double Lobed	Lateroligia ophiogramma