Welcome to the Sussex Moth Group website

The State Of Britain's Moths...

The new State of Britain's Larger Moths 2013 report shows clearly that moths are in decline. The total number of larger moths recorded in the national network of Rothamsted trap samples decreased by 28% over the 40 years from 1968 to 2007.
To read more and download the full report go to the Butterfly Conservation website

NEW - Common Micro-moths of Berkshire

The Berkshire Moth Group has published a new, 144 page book, Common Micro-moths of Berkshire, covering over 100 species in full colour. There's more information and how to buy the book on the Latest News page.

This site has been developed primarily as a resource for members of The Sussex Moth Group, though of course, anyone interested in the study of moths is more than welcome to use it too.

improved

The main intention of this site is to provide as accurate and up to date a picture as is possible of the status, distribution and phenology of all the species of moth that have been recorded in Sussex.

The site aims to provide, not only up to date information and news on moths and mothing events in Sussex but also, on our sightings page, an insight into the more interesting moth species that are being recorded by our members. For more information on both butterfly and moth sightings go to the Sightings Page on the Sussex Branch of Butterfly Conservation's website.

*NEW* For the January 2014 edition of Butterfly Conservation's "E-moth newsletter" go to the Downlaods page.

SMG logo, designed by Tim Freed

The Aims of the Sussex Moth Group:

To promote the study of Sussex moths
To educate and inspire young naturalists
To protect and enhance the environment for the benefit of moths
To develop good relations with other ecological agencies
To increase awareness of the importance of insects generally

New features:

Photo checklist
A quick reference to all the species on the site of which we have photographs and of which stage.

"Home Squares"
If you regularly trap at the same site and your records are included in the SxBRC's data then you can highlight your local square here. You will need to register on the site first though (if you haven't already done so).

Sightings Page (see box below)
Keep up-to-date with the latest news and reports on some of the more interesting species turning up in Sussex.

Richer data
The data has now been updated to include many records from 2011 (thanks Penny) and now contains nearly half a million records, it has been (and continues to be) thoroughly validated to exclude as many errors as possible. Not only that, but now the distribution maps and phenology charts for each species can be queried to show records for various date-ranges, immature stages (phenology only - if the records exist), and the details for named forms, aberrations and subspecies.

The "Species search" on the left of each page on the site allows you to look for a particular species by starting to type its name (either vernacular or scientific) in the Species? box. The search results appear automatically in the box below. Simply click on the name of the species you are looking for and you will be directed to its page.

The "Quick finder" allows you to select all the members on the British list of any particular family, the species with an entry on this site will appear as hyperlinks in bold.

The presence of a diamond (♦) next to a search result indicates there is a record for that species for today, 23 April, in the database and so therefore it is currently within its flight season.

The box above, right lists the ten most frequently recorded species on this day in Sussex, the species are listed in order of frequency, the arrows indicate the change in rank from the previous day.

Current photo count: 3002 images of 1190 species.

* well, hopefully...

Most recorded species on:
23 April

NO CHANGE Hebrew Character, Orthosia gothica
Common Quaker, Orthosia cerasi
DOWN Early Grey, Xylocampa areola
Clouded Drab, Orthosia incerta
Brindled Pug, Eupithecia abbreviata
Powdered Quaker, Orthosia gracilis
Brimstone Moth, Opisthograptis luteolata
Lunar Marbled Brown, Drymonia ruficornis
Early Thorn, Selenia dentaria
Frosted Green, Polyploca ridens