State of Britain's Larger Moths 2013

"The results are unequivocal: insect biodiversity is declining rapidly and, in many cases, it is specialist species that are being lost, while a relatively small number of generalist species come to dominate once-diverse wildlife communities."

This is an extract from the latest report on how our macro moths are faring. The report certainly makes an interesting read (and at times a rather scary read), with two-thirds of our commonest garden species in decline. Topping the declines list is the V-moth (-99% over 40 years), a garden species which is uncommon in the county (I've recorded it just once in 2011).

The report highlights the importance of continued recording across the country, especially with traps run regularly in the same location; allowing more widespread trends to be calculated in the future. The report ends with a section on moth conservation; while the 'specialist habitat' conservation projects are important, I feel that the best course of action is to encourage people to manage their land with wildlife in mind, on a much more widespread scale.

The report is available here as a PDF.

Douglas.