Happy New Year everyone! Hope 2026 brings lots of great mothing. My final stats for 2025 are 1,038 species recorded (excluding aggs), all in England, by far my best ever total. It included 114 lifers. 243 species recorded as early stages (mostly leaf mines). #teammoth

🏆My Moth Oscars 2025 - Best Migrant. Not many contenders but the winner was Diasemiopsis ramburialis (Migrant Sable)🥇 a lifer caught in the New Forest with Tony Davis. Shortlist = Porter’s Rustic, also a lifer, & Palpita vitrealis (Olive-tree Pearl) for the sheer number around this year. #teammoth

🏆My Moth Oscars 2025 - Best Immature stage. Shortlist (cont.) = Coleophora kuehnella (Cloaked Case-bearer), Acrobasis consociella (Grey Oak Knot-horn), Ectoedemia arcuatella (Strawberry Dot), C. albicans (Wormwood Case-bearer) & C. violacea (White-tipped Case-bearer). 3/3 #teammoth

🏆My Moth Oscars 2025 - Best Immature stage. Shortlist (cont.) = Bucculatrix maritima (Saltern Tuft), Agonopterix assimilella (Speckled Broom Buff), Nothris congressariella (Cornish Snout)… 2/3 #teammoth

🏆My Moth Oscars 2025 - Best Immature stage. The most tightly contested category. Winner = Scarce Pug larva🥇- a lifer & very rare species that I didn’t expect to find due to the early season. Shortlist = Selania leplastriana (Coast Piercer), Caryocolum viscariella (Campion Groundling)… 1/3 #teammoth

🏆My Moth Oscars 2025 - Best Supporting (unexpected) Micro shortlist cont. Ethmia quadrillella (Comfrey Ermine), Phaulernis dentella (Dusky Ridge-back), Duponchelia fovealis (European Pepper Moth), Aglossa pinguinalis (Large Tabby), Luquetia lobella (Tufted Blackthorn Moth) 2/2 #teammoth

🏆My Moth Oscars 2025 - Best Supporting (unexpected) Micro. Winner = Cosmopterix lienigiella (Pale Reed Beauty), Hackney Marshes on the River Teign. A rare species in Devon with only a handful of records, all from the Exe. Shortlist = Pammene rhediella (Fruitlet Mining Tortrix)…1/2 #teammoth

🏆My Moth Oscars 2025 - Best Supporting (unexpected) Macro shortlist (continued): Dark Umber in garden trap (2nd for Devon), White Satin at Dawlish Warren (my 2nd ever), Lead Belle & Small Clouded Brindle (both long overdue lifers that turned up in my garden) 2/2 #teammoth

🏆My Moth Oscars 2025 - Best Supporting (unexpected) Macro. The winner is Dusky-lemon Sallow🥇, a lifer for me and a species with only a handful of previous Devon records, caught on a cold October night at the edge of the local marshes. Shortlist: Saltern Ear (my second ever)…1/2 #teammoth

🏆My Moth Oscars 2025 - Best Micro Shortlist (continued) = Aethes deaurana (Alexanders Straw), Gymnancyla canella (Shore Knot-horn), Elegia similella (White-barred Knot-horn) & Caloptilia falconipennella (Dark Alder Stilt)…2/2 #teammoth

🏆My Moth Oscars 2025 - my Best Micro winner is Bisigna procerella (Beautiful Silver-mark)🥇a lifer for me seen late at night in a Kent wood in early July. Shortlist = Oegoconia caradjai (Straw Yellowneck),…1/2 #teammoth

Celebrating an epic year of mothing with🏆My Moth Oscars 2025. First category is my Best Macro-moth record of the year. Winner is Light Crimson Underwing🥇Shortlist = Dingy Mocha, Double Kidney, Olive Crescent, Sussex Emerald & Tawny Wave. #teammoth

Corn Marigolds in flower on the Cornish coast on Christmas Eve

We know that the role of nocturnal moths as pollinators has been greatly underestimated in Europe, but this impressive new study shows that tiger moths (Arctiinae) are important generalist pollinators in a lowland rainforest in Ecuador #teammoth 🌎 royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...

More evidence of negative impacts of artificial light at night on moths - activity of Scarce Bordered Straw moths is naturally concentrated in the first 2hrs of night but activity was suppressed under streetlights www.sciencedirect.com:5037/science/arti... #teammoth #lightpollution 🌍

Nice time at the annual British Ecological Society meeting in Edinburgh this week - great chance to catch up with people & research from another year in ecology

Going back over photos from the summer yielded a lifer today - larval mine and cutout of Heliozela hammoniella (Birch Cutter) from Yarner Wood, Devon in early August. #teammoth

Back in early May I found this larval case on Hawthorn at Lankham Bottom reserve in Dorset. It proved to be Coleophora spinella (Apple & Plum Case-bearer) - only the second time I’ve recorded this species. #teammoth @dorsetmoths.bsky.social

Cnephasia incertana (Light Grey Tortrix) was new for my garden back in May (identified by gen. det. by Tony Davis). A common but very under-recorded species due to the ID difficulties in this genus. #teammoth

Might be useful for County Butterfly and Moth Recorders! @savebutterflies.bsky.social

A couple of hours with @barryhenwood.bsky.social in a Dartmoor wood yesterday evening searching for female Winter Moths for @rona-learmonth.bsky.social PhD on phenology and climate change. #teammoth

Thanks to YOU, our amazing supporters, we've smashed our Big Give target! That's £75,140 that will fund vital research and conservation work to help the Dark Bordered Beauty to spread its wings and thrive once more. Thank you 💚 📷: Lindsey Bowes #ChristmasChallenge #MothsMatter @biggive.bsky.social

Yay!! Probably my last moth species of 2025 - December Moth in the garden trap last night. Always a treat at this time of year! #teammoth

Found what I think is probably a Vapourer moth cocoon covered in its eggs on a birch tree last week in Devon. Can anyone confirm please? #teammoth

Double your impact to save the Dark Bordered Beauty this #GivingTuesday 💚 For the next 7 days, every £1 you donate to secure a future for this incredible moth will be matched in the Big Give! Donate today 👉 donate.biggive.org/campaign/a05... #ChristmasChallenge @biggive.bsky.social

Great news that the National Trust hopes to buy Giant Hill, one of the most important butterfly sites in Dorset. Please support the appeal if you can. Our Branch have been monitoring the site for decades and helping to maintain species like the Duke of Burgundy www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

New research from Belgium doesn’t support the ‘lost generation’ theory for the decline of the Wall, but does show reduced survival with warming temperatures 🌍 nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... (📷 Mark Searle)

Delighted to find several Scarce Umber by torchlight in the woods the other night. It lives up to its name down here in Devon and this only the second time I’ve ever seen this species. #teammoth

Caloptilia semifascia (Maple Stilt), I think, still active in the garden this week. These hibernate as adult moths, but there aren’t many Devon records from mid-Nov onwards. #teammoth

Yay! Mottled Umber NFY in the garden moth-trap last night. It’s a species I don’t see every year so great to get one to add to my Big Moth Year total (currently at 1,034) #teammoth

New study confirms that short wavelength light (UV & blue) attracts the most nocturnal insects & that intensity increases attraction for all colours. Longer wavelength & lower intensity outdoor lights should reduce biodiversity impacts resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #teammoth 🌍

PhD opportunity! Want to help protect UK pollinators and shape real biodiversity policy? This project with @ukceh.bsky.social & University of Reading puts you at the heart of major ecological questions. blogs.reading.ac.uk/crocus-dla/c...

Can trees outside woods improve farmland biodiversity? 🌳 This #NationalTreeWeek, Richard Fox, Head of Science, discusses a recent study into the importance of trees outside woods for farmland butterflies 🦋 buff.ly/spvtBMp

I was speaking at an event at @rammuseum.bsky.social last night which was a great opportunity to see Sarah Gillespie’s recent artwork about the UK decline of moths and, in particular, Garden Tiger. Lovely, thought-provoking piece #teammoth

Looking forward to taking part in this event this evening - I’ll be talking about butterflies and moths (not dancing like birds!)

Another new species for me - mine of Ectodemia intimella (White-spot Sallow Dot) on Sallow in Leicestershire at the weekend. #teammoth

My first ever Ectoedemia argyropeza (Aspen Dot) mines today - a scarce species in Devon, but easy to find outside a motorway Travelodge in Leicestershire #teammoth

Seven Palpita vitrealis in the garden last night, which is a new record - never had more than 2 before. 25 Udea ferrugalis and a couple of Silver Y the only other migrants. Merv & Blair’s Mocha the best of the locals. #Teammoth

A project to restore ancient forests in the Scottish Highlands is significantly boosting moth biodiversity, a Butterfly Conservation study has found. 🌳 Read the full story 👉 buff.ly/AyKPh6e 📷: Patrick Cook, Sarah Wanless #MothsMatter #TeamMoth

Acleris notana (Tawny Birch Tortrix) found as a larva in a spun birch leaf at Yarner Wood, Devon back in August. The adult emerged the following month and identification was confirmed by gen. det. #teammoth

Jupiter painting butterflies - Dosso Dossi c.1524 #Krakow

I’ve found the mines and larva of Bucculatrix bechsteinella (Hawthorn Tuft) before but this is the first adult I’ve seen - caught in my garden moth-trap in July and confirmed by gen. det. Love the little tuft of black scales in the middle of each forewing. #teammoth

Moths need darkness to thrive 🖤 But globally, light pollution is increasing by 10% a year, and these vital nocturnal pollinators need our help. Find out how you can provide a haven for moths where you live by creating Moon Meadows 👉 butterfly-conservation.org/moon-meadows... 📷: Marian Coburn

Slightly better moth trap haul this morning including first Yellow-line Quakers of the year and only my second Merv of the autumn. Good to see Feathers McThorn too (kudos to @mavisbickle.bsky.social for officially renaming Feathered Thorn!) #teammoth

We're thrilled to share this film featuring some of the dedicated volunteers who monitor butterflies for the UKBMS A huge thank you to them, and everyone who's supported the scheme over the last 50 years. #UKBMS50 youtu.be/OrF5AgseX1U?...

There are still plenty of leaf mines about - this Stigmella atricapitella (Black-headed Dot) was NFY for me at the weekend on an oak by the village playing field. #teammoth

Stigmella glutinosae (White-barred Alder Dot) mine found in the village today on Alder. The larva exited the mine (before photo was taken) but enabled me to see its dark, ventral, prothoracic plate which rules out S. alnetella. #teammoth

Larva of Teleiodes luculella (White Crescent) that I found at the weekend - it lives between two oak leaves that it has spun flat together and on which it also feeds. #teammoth

Fascinating Swedish study proving that threatened butterflies can still disperse surprisingly long distances eg Marsh Fritillary >8km and more than 10% of Large Blues travelled at least 1km resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... 🌍

Belated ID of Gypsonoma oppressana (Mottled Grey Tortrix) feeing signs on poplar in Sept thanks to the fine folk at the leaf miners Facebook group. I thought you needed to see the larva to ID this species but the mine along the mid-rib is distinctive apparently. Every day’s a school day. #teammoth