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Moth identification help

Neil75Neil75 Posts: 21
in Fruit & veg
Hi all, 
I found this beautiful specimen in the greenhouse and wondered if there is a lepidopterist amongst the community that might be able to shed light on the species. 

Posts

  • RBMancRBManc Posts: 59
    Whereabouts in the UK are you? Looks like a Luperina of some kind, maybe?
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Perhaps https://www.norfolkmoths.co.uk/index_mobile.php?bf=23530 ? 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    I'm going with Clouded Drab. https://britishlepidoptera.weebly.com/242-orthosia-incerta-clouded-drab.html
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • Neil75Neil75 Posts: 21
    Apologies, I'm in East Kent.
  • Neil75Neil75 Posts: 21
    Many thanks for the quick and excellent responses, wildedges and dovefromabove. It definitely seems to be the clouded drab, based on the 3 dark smudgy marks and the timing.  And it seems to be living up to its polyphageous character in my GH :-) 
    I'd love to know more about identify moths. Is there a standard method or tool you both use?
    Kind regards 
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    Keep an eye out for the moth trapping thread https://forum.gardenersworld.com/discussion/1064328/moth-trappings#latest  It's fairly inactive right now but once the weather picks up a bit so will the thread.
    In terms of identifying moths I use the iNaturalist website to record all the moths I find. You can upload a photo and the AI will help identify it. It's a pretty good feature but if it can't help then you can just tag it as lepidoptera and there's plenty of experienced people on there who will help to narrow it down. I still like to use books to ID insects but so many moths are virtually identical or lose definition as they age and they can take ages to track down without help.
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • Neil75Neil75 Posts: 21
    Thanks, wild edges, that's really helpful. In my head I've been battling moths for a while on the front of being the first to benefit from my fruit trees. But in the process I've tried to understand them more and this has created an admiration for them. (The same happened with the rats, but I won't go there ;-)). So these links will help develop my understanding. Thank you. 

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