After more than three decades of silence, two elusive moth species have resurfaced in a Scottish high-nature reserve — a timely reminder that even in an era of insect decline, pockets of revival may offer hope for wildlife.
The two moth species were spotted during a moth trapping session at the National Trust for Scotland's Grey Mare's Tail Nature Reserve. Both the Autumnal Rustic and the Anomalous Rustic species, as they are called, have not been spotted at the site since 1993.
National Trust for Scotland moth specialist Ishbel Hayes told the Daily Record: "We carry out moth trapping at the reserve to observe the health of the moth populations and our habitats, with the data recorded added to national databases. These are used to develop moth atlases that show the distribution of different species across the U.K., which help to identify trends for the insects over time."
Moth populations have been slipping dramatically in recent years. Data from the Rothamsted Insect Survey and the National Moth Recording Scheme show that the overall abundance of larger moths in Britain has fallen by about 33% between 1968 and 2017, with the southern half of the country hit the hardest at around a 39% drop compared with the north of around 22%.
These startling declines signal risks not just for moths themselves but also for the many birds, bats, and other creatures that rely on them for food.
However, despite the worrying trends, this year's survey at Grey Mare's Tail Nature Reserve delivered encouraging news. The monitoring team found 119 individual moths across 22 species during August, signalling an unusually strong "bumper summer" for moths at the site, according to Hayes.
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Hayes added that the reappearance of some species could be due to climate change.
"As a result of climate change, we are seeing moth distributions changing, with those previously only found in the warmer climes of the south of England expanding further north, and those which prefer the damper, cooler Scottish weather restricted to fewer areas," she explained.
Continued monitoring is vital for supporting moth populations worldwide. From this, researchers know where interventions are needed to sustain ecosystems, with implications for wildlife, the food supply, and human livelihoods.
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