Social Distancing Week 12. White Ermine Moth

Paul writes: I don’t have to travel far to find moths. It’s at this time of year that, in the evening, I start to leave lights on in rooms, with the curtains and blinds not drawn. Many moths are drawn to light and on calm warm nights, especially if there is a lot of cloud cover, you can get many visitors settling on the window pane or the ground just outside.

One of the commonest and brightest moths at this time of year is the White Ermine (Spilosoma lubricipeda). I have seen several of these around in the past week. It’s a brilliant white moth with lots of black spots and a lovely hairy thorax. This moth can be found throughout most of the UK  until the middle of July. One of the reasons it’s so widespread is that its larvae feed on a wide variety of common plants including nettles.

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