This is the online version of one of the handouts from my micro-moth training courses.
Online resources
- OPAL/Garden Moth Scheme micro-moth family guide – excellent guide with lots of info from Dave Grundy
- UK Moths: great coverage of macros and micros – try browsing via thumbnail images
- Norfolk Moth Group micro-moth section: – see also What’s flying tonight? for micros
- Suffolk Moths has lots of useful info, including a searchable Field Tips section that shows you which caterpillars to look for on which plants
- Associations between moths and their foodplants can also be searched via the BRC database of insects and their foodplants
- Hants Moths: good information (e.g. covering similar species) and photos for most species (macros and micros)
- Northumberland Moths: lots of good resources including ID tips for various species groups
- Detailed photos of specimens and dissections from Chris Lewis’s British Lepidoptera
- Leafmining micro-moths are well-covered on leafmines.co.uk and www.ukflymines.co.uk
- Gelechiid Recording Scheme: lots of info and photos for family Gelechiidae
- Lepiforum is an excellent German website with good micro coverage
- UK Leps: eggs, larvae and pupae – amazing images of the complete life-cycles for many moth species
- Moth dissection: fantastic resources for the difficult ‘critical’ species
- Help with ID is available via several Facebook groups, e.g. UK Micro Moth Identification, via iSpot, or via many local moth group websites or blogs
Butterfly Conservation – Moths Count – National Moth Recording Scheme
- Lots of general info about mothing – “How to start mothing”, etc.
- Micro-moth national distribution maps
- Micro-moth verification guidance
Moth traps, nets and other field equipment
- Anglian Lepidopterist Supplies (who provide instructions for building your own moth trap)
- NHBS (books and equipment)
- Watkins and Doncaster
- Marris House Nets are excellent, now available from B&S Entomology
Local contacts
Books
- Field Guide to the Micro-moths of Great Britain and Ireland. Sterling, M. Parsons and R. Lewington, British Wildlife Publishing, 2012. (Illustrates moths in natural resting positions.)
- Common Micro-moths of Berkshire. Berkshire Moth Group, 2013. (Superbly illustrated photo-guide to c. 100 of the most commonly seen species, likely to be found in many counties as well as Berkshire.)
- British Moths (second edition). C. Manley, Bloomsbury, 2015. (Photographs of live moths. Comprehensive for macro-moths but has a good range of micro-moths as well.)
- British Plume Moths. C. Hart. BENHS 2011. (Thorough and well-illustrated handbook for this family.)
- Bird-dropping Tortrix Moths of the British Isles (second edition). J. Clifton and J. Wheeler. 2016. (A very well-illustrated and helpful guide to 65 species that mimic bird-droppings.)
- Conifer Moths of the British Isles. J. Clifton and J. Wheeler. 2012. (Includes 108 species, over half of which are micros, that feed on conifers.)
- Moths and Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland (multiple volumes). A.M. Emmett et al., various dates. (Pricey, but the good volumes are excellent: volumes 3, 4(1) and 4(2). Vol 7(2) contains a comprehensive chart of the life-histories, phenology and foodplants of all Lepidoptera. [The Tortricidae volume 5 has not been well-reviewed.])
- Tortricidae (Lepidoptera) of Europe (two volumes). J. Razowski. Slamka 2002. (Very good but expensive.)