Species of moths uk. Moths are flying insects in the order of lepidoptera which is also the same order to which butterflies belong. Moths are often unfairly thought of as butterflies drab cousins. But there are lots of wonderfully colourful species and plenty with dramatic patterns including in the uk. Moths are also far more numerous than butterflies.
While sometimes overshadowed by their colourful butterfly cousins moths are considerably more diverse with about 2500 species in the uk. Whether you are a seasoned moth spotter or youre winging it for the first time here is a guide to nine vibrant distinctive british moths to look out for on a summer walk. There are burnet moths with black and red wings tiger moths with beautiful bold patterns and hawk moths that can be as large as your hand. To study all of britains species incuding the often very interesting microlepidoptera requires an expensive library of reference material.
Even the moths that are brown have intricate patterns and incredible camouflage. Traditionally moth fieldguides have concentrated on the so called macro moths of which there are around 800 regular species. With around 2500 species of moth in the uk theres an amazing amount of diversity to be discovered.