Caption: Children at Penny Bridge C.E. Academy delight in seeing a Poplar Hawk Moth
Caption: A couple of the younger participants marvel at a Small Elephant Hawk moth and a Poplar Hawk moth
Caption: An introduction to moths at Leven Valley C.E. School
Despite the wet and cold weather, the Rusland Horizons butterfly and moth project held three successful events in June.
Early on the morning of June 10th we held a before school moth morning in the school meadow at Penny Bridge C.E. Academy. We were delighted to welcome around fifty children and parents, where they had the opportunity to learn about the moths that inhabit the meadow. It was wonderful to see such an enthusiastic turnout, especially at 8.15am on a Monday morning! This event complemented work that the school are doing to restore the meadow habitat and teach the children about local wildlife.
On Saturday 15th June we held a moth morning followed by a butterfly walk at Hay Bridge Nature Reserve in Bouth. Despite the rather damp conditions we were very pleased to record over forty species of moth. We also had a very good turnout of human participants too, with a great mixture of ages and experience from those new moths to experienced lepidopterists.
We have had some very positive feedback from this event. One family commented, "What a lovely morning we had! Great to be surrounded by such kind, enthusiastic and knowledgeable people."
Another participant commented, "It was amazing to see so many different moths... being completely new to it I haven't seen anything like such beautiful moths before."
On Monday 17th June we visited Leven Valley C.E. school where we ran a series of sessions introducing each class to moths and the importance of conservation. They learnt about the moths that had been found in the school woodland area. All the groups were really interested, very gentle with the moths and asked thoughtful questions. The Buff tip was the star of the show and helped the children learn about camouflage.