Worthing Birding and Wildlife: Guest Blog Mike & Karen Galtry

Mike Galtry

Privet Hawkmoth (Mike & Karen Galtry)

Given that the birding has been pretty awful so far this year, perhaps it’s time to have a

look at some other wildlife. We run a moth trap at home, as do many others in the

area, and we have had our most diverse start of the year ever.

After a couple of traps in March yielding only 5 species and a complete blank in April,

where a combination of bad weather and a holiday meant that we didn’t trap at all, it

wasn’t looking that impressive.

May is when the mothing picks up, and this has equalled 2024 as our most diverse May, with 64 species of macro moth and 12 species of micro moth recorded. (Given that it’s only recently that we’ve bothered with micros, a record total is not unlikely, but this has been a record for macros as well.) It’s always nice to brag about a new species for the list, and Great Prominent was a welcome addition,

Great Prominent ( Mike & Karen Galtry)

The highlight of May for us is the Hawk-moths. Big, chunky and beautiful, they’re not rare (other people trap rarities, not us), but it’s pretty special to hold an insect with a wingspan of about 10 cm and wearing stripy pink pyjamas. We had 5 species (out of the 9 we have recorded at home). Other classy common moths included Buff Tip and Waved Umber.

Elephant Hawkmoths ( Mike & Karen Galtry)

June’s weather, particularly when we had a bit of cloud cover and south easterlies, led to an explosion of species. 68 micro species and 106 macro species, both way higher than our previous highs, included our only other new macro: a Red-belted Clearwing that flew in through the window. (They come to pheromones not light, so Karen obviously smells good.) An overdue Eyed Hawk-moth and a herd of Elephant Hawkmoths provided some bulk.

Red Belted Clearwing ( Mike & Karen Galtry)