Introduction to the Moths of Northamptonshire

by John Ward

This section of the Northamptonshire Moth Group web site reviews the 630 or so larger (macro) moths that have been recorded in Northamptonshire and the Soke of Peterborough arranged alphabetically for ease of reference. The aim is to show how common a moth is within the vice-county and provide an accompanying photograph that is a real aid to identification.

Due to their nocturnal lifestyle and expertise in concealment moths are often difficult to find and in a county of this size there are bound to be gaps in recording. I have tried to allow for this in the categories that I have adopted for “Distribution and Abundance.” On area grounds alone, the use of the 10 km grid square as a unit of recording means that moths that are classed as common will almost certainly be present in all grid squares within the county, even though at this stage the maps may not show this.

Although an inland county with very little acid heath, no upland and which has suffered unprecedented habitat loss since the Second World War, our species tally is still comparable with most counties. Nowadays we just have to look rather harder to find them.

Over the years, various articles have appeared in entomological journals, but the only full lists of the county’s moths that have been published were in the Victoria County History in 1902 and by Eustace F. Wallis between 1908 and 1912.

The species text and distribution maps will be updated annually as recording proceeds.