Moth Boy

Most moths sleep profoundly in the trap and we had a good example here yesterday. Among the golden stars of the catch featured in the previous post, there were five Poplar Hawks snoozing away and on previous form, I was pretty confident that most of them would stay all day if left undisturbed.

So I tucked them away, because we had family coming including a young cousin who knows about moths because one of his grandfathers is an expert trapper and recorder. When we went to have a look after lunch, three of the big moths were duly there, sound asleep and safe from our inquisitive robins and blackbirds in the darkness of a shed.

The good ship Herbidacious - see below

Docilely, they allowed 'Moth Boy', as he kindly signed our visitors' book, to carry them on one hand, and one of them has gone off with him and his family to London, still asleep. With luck, it may be a female which will lay eggs down there and so spread the Poplar Hawk population even more widely. If male, perhaps it will meet a London mate when released and do the same.

By happy coincidence, we found the book above on the excellent Herb Boat Herbidacious which was moored by the towpath when we went for a sunny walk along the canal. Maybe we have a trapper of the future here. Meanwhile I am wondering: do moths sleep as soundly in the wild? Or is it an effect of the attraction/disorientation of the light?