Micro Review 69

 

Much Ado About Mothing by James Lowen (Bloomsbury)

While I've been captivated by butterflies for a long time I've never really thought about moths. This year that has changed. Earlier in the year we were at Sculthorpe Moor Nature Reserve when wardens there were opening a moth trap, and then whilst on holiday in Scotland and seeing to many day and evening species.

Much Ado About Mothing was just the book for me at the moment as it follow Lowen over the course of the year as he tries to find and see the rarest UK moths. It isn't just about the rarities however and through the eyes of his daughter he talks about so many more species, often ones that are easier to find!

I had a couple of issues with the book.  One that Lowen touches on this - the use of artificial pheromones to lure moths to his garden and traps. I wasn't aware that this is a thing you can do and at it feel like cheating, or even cruelty to the poor moths. Lowen did stress where lights and lures couldn't be used but there was no discussion of the ethics of this.

When I talked about this with a friend they pointed out I had no problems with bird feeders and so wasn't I being hypocritical...I thought about this and came to the conclusion that at least on a bird feeder the bird was getting a physical and useful reward, but pheromones promised a lot but didn't actually reward the moths with a mate. I'm still not sure how I feel about lights in traps...

My second issue was that Lowen talks a lot about how climate change is really impacting on the moth populations of the UK and yet in one year he drives 14,000 miles as he searches for these rare species. The thought of this incredible mileage has made me all the more certain that I won't become a wildlife 'twitcher' who travels just to see an unusual species, it will have to fit into my plans and there has to be another goal for the trip, even if this is just a walk at a nature reserve. 

Apart from these two points I really enjoyed the book, all the more so as Lowen does live in Norwich and makes it clear just how many moths I could see on my own patch and how overlooked or feared moths are. It was certainly interesting to see how few language separate butterflies and moths out and so moths overseas don't have the same negative stigma that moths here often do.

Much Ado About Mothing is on the 2022 Wainright Prize longlist and I hope that it does make the shortlist as it is a fascinating read.

A selection of the moths seen in Scotland, July 2022 that have inspired me to learn more

Rewilding Myself

 

2020 has been an unusual year to say the least but the often good weather and restrictions on travel have had some plus points - Mr Norfolkbookworm and I have made the effort to get out together for a walk (admittedly of varying length) every day bar a handful since lockdown was introduced in March.

While we often spent our free time pre-Covid outside these daily excursions have made us far more aware of the incremental changes that happen in nature and watching the seasons pass in regularly visited spaces has been a pleasant side effect.

The amount I've been reading has fluctuated wildly through the year, as have the subjects, but Rewild Yourself by Simon Barnes is a book that really stuck with me. His 23 ideas for noticing the world around you on a small and practical scale are definitely sensible and achievable, not hand-wavy or impossible.

I enjoy bird spotting while out and about  but I consider myself to be a poor and often frustrated birder - far too many of my pictures are classed as 'lbj' (little brown job) as I have no idea what they actually are. Barnes came to the rescue with the suggestion that butterflies are (mostly) easier to identify and also with just 50 or so commonly seen species in England it is possible to 'see' them all.

I've been keeping a track of what we have seen this year and incredibly we've seen 21 positively identified species in Norfolk, and I have managed to get a photograph of nearly all of them. The whites and blues have been the hardest to snap and identify but it has been so much fun walking in the countryside and then taking the time to identify them. Unlike my images of birds and dragonflies I have been able to ID them without asking for help from other naturalists on Twitter!

I post many of my images from our excursions on Flickr (www.flickr.com/norfolkbookworm) but below are some collages of our spots this year. Highlights are always going to include the elusive swallowtails but this year is is also the green and white hairstreaks that feature. Next year I really how to be able to see the rarer white admiral and purple emperor butterflies, and I'd love to see some of the more exotic moths too.

I really recommend Simon Barnes' books - he writes about Norfolk and nature in wonderfully evocative ways.