They might not be everyone’s favourite, but moths are important! 🦋
Butterflies and moths are important indicators for the health of their ecosystem. Butterflies and moths are sensitive to climate change, so monitoring their populations is a way to catch warning signs of climate change in their environment. If you have a wide variety and high number of moths and butterflies, that indicates a wide range of other invertebrates in the local ecosystem (Did you know that invertebrates account for more than two-thirds of all species?) – That’s important for pollination and pest control! 🌻 They’re also an important food source for insectivorous animals such as birds and bats – that’s especially important to us here at Cocklebury as we have rare bat population! 🦇
So it’s important to understand and protect these species, which is why we’re proud to be members of the Butterfly Conservation!
How do we monitor the moth population here at Cocklebury? With a moth trap! Don’t worry, moths are not hurt by the trap, it’s a catch and release system. We pop a nice little light in a container full of egg boxes which the moths are attracted to, they then settle in for a good nap and we count them in the morning before they wake up! 💤 Enjoy some picture of our latest moth count session below..
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