On Friday 19th June evening dusk brought some moth activity. It was a warm and dry evening and whilst Mark was walking back from locking the hens up for the night he spotted two white/pale blue moths. Having alerted myself and guests in the Cabin of the activity we all went into the meadow in search of the moths. One of the blue moths had by this point found a mate. Luckily for us the guests had a superior camera to me and kindly took some great photos, and contacted the Natural History Museum to confirm the moths identity. The moths were confirmed as Ghost moths (Hepialus humuli) also known as the ghost swift. It is a common moth throughout Europe. The male has a wingspan of about 44mm and both forewings and hindwings are pure white. The female is larger (wingspan about 48mm) and has yellowish-buff forewings with darker linear markings and brown hindwings. The adults fly from June to August, overwintering as a larva. The ghost moth gets its name from the display flight we were lucky enough to see, in which they hover and rise and fall over open ground to attract females. We didn’t see the second male moth again, but we hope he found a mate too. Thanks to Bev for her brilliant photography and identification of the moths.
