In celebration of Moth-er's Day

No time for birding recently. However the moth season is in full swing. Coming back to the warmer climes of Hong Kong gave me a different cycle to mothing. I started moth-ing in the UK some 4 years ago when the birding was quiet. Broadly speaking this is after Spring migration and before Autumn migration. The other distraction is dragonflies (odonata). In Britain, few moths fly when the temperature is below 10 degrees Celsius and to get a significant flight you need temperatures up in the higher teens and a balmy, dry evening. Strong winds and moths do not generally mix well although sometimes they can blow in vagrants from the South.

In Hong Kong the flight periods tend to stretch a little longer but activity starts more around 20-25 degrees Celsius. High humidity is good, calm evenings also good but light rain doesn’t seem to dampen the moth spirits too much.

The variety here is excellent and the chances of finding a ‘first for HK’ are measurably higher than they are of finding a ‘first for Britain’. There are few people actively recording moths and keeping records. Even my own humble efforts have produced a few. How about this little chap, Naganoella timandra. Never recorded in HK until I found it.




Currently there is no field guide to identify moths in Hong Kong. There are some websites and a guide is in prep but as with all natural history books it seems to have the gestation period of an overdue elephant. As it is primarily a one man labour of love this is understandable if frustrating at times. I have seen the ‘work in progress’ and it will be a truly remarkable achievement when finished, of incredibly high quality. Indeed, even Britain has only 2 reasonably recent quality fieldguides, Skinner (with the moths pinned in traditional fashion) and Waring (in natural resting positions). This is not a hobby or science that is producing work in the league of birding, where maybe 5 or 6 new books come out each month. Perhaps one book every 5 or 6 years might be a reliable guideline.

The Moths of Borneo was until recently the only reference text for this region. There is now a series of books on Thai moths and Thailand also has the wonderful John Moore website, where you can see the splendid “Happy Cow” moth. I believe this is not its scientific name.

To start yourself off on moths may I suggest the following. Switch the outside light on at night. wait. If conditions are suitable moths will arrive. Photograph 1 or 2 of the nice ones and post them on the Yahoo HK Moths website for us to ID. That is it. Who knows, you may have a first for Hong Kong.