The biggest in the world has a wingspan of up to 12 inches or 30 cms. One species provides the basis of a cloth used for 5,500 years. Another can cause severe damage to extensive areas of forest but yet another is a food source in southern Africa. There are around 2,400 of – no doubt you’ve guessed it – moths in Britain from tiny micro-moths up to the dramatic hawkmoths.

When the caterpillar of the silkmoth turns into a cocoon it weaves a thread of raw silk which can be up to 900 metres long and about 2,000 to 3,000 cocoons are required to make a pound of silk. There is evidence as far back as 3,500BC of silk being used in China but it is not just silk that the moth provides. In Korea and China the pupae are boiled and seasoned and sold by street vendors as a snack.

The caterpillar of another moth species, known as the mopane worm, is widely eaten in southern Africa. But not all moths are so helpful to mankind. They can nibble away at your best clothes (although very few moths actually eat material or indeed eat anything!) and the Pine Processionary caterpillar can be a real pain! In Spain you are much more at risk from these than venomous snakes or spiders.

Touching them can result in at best a mild inflammatory rash to at worst, anaphylactic shock and this applies also to the hairs of the caterpillar which can float around in the air. Fortunately the moths you are likely to see around Wenvoe are much more benign. Whilst most moths fly at night there are several day-flying species often mistaken for butterflies and in June the Upper Orchid Field had lots of the Burnet Companion moth in the grassy areas. Where the countryside is dark at night it is usually possible to find moths at night simply by wandering about with a torch but there is so much light pollution around Wenvoe that even moth traps fail to work effectively. The further you are from bright street lights, the better. However,  one colourful moth you might find is the Clouded Magpie, shown in the photo which feeds on Blackthorn and Hawthorn of which we have an abundance localy