Moth Survey

In September, Colchester Zoo staff undertook a moth survey in the zoo’s car park. The moth survey was due to take place in June as part of this year’s Bioblitz, but due to poor weather, the event was postponed.

The aim of the survey was to record as many species as possible within the time scale. We had 2 moth lamps set up to try and entice as many different species as we could; in total 26 different moth species were identified with the star of the evening being a Red Underwing, which turned up at the end of the night!

The Red Underwing Moth (Catocala nupta) has a wingspan of 6½ - 7½cm and is one of the larger British moths and is seen in August and September. At rest, the moth’s bright red underwings are hidden to conceal it from predators. However, once it takes flight, the dazzling colours become visible. The Red Underwing Moth is quite common in the south of the UK, but still a beautiful moth to be seen!


The number of species found this year was considerably lower than previous years. However, this survey was a lot later in the year as we have previously conducted our moth surveys in June. Hopefully the weather in 2013 will be better than this year and we can conduct the survey next June.