The Visit Of The Brimstone Moth

The Brimstone moth is a beautiful sight indeed. Its florescent wings stretch out to create a neon yellow sheet of beauty. I was very pleased when I realised one of these moths was staying the night in my house. When I found out there was a moth clung to the wall of my house I was delighted and strived to find out what it was. With the help of some books (linked in the resources page) I managed to identify what it was and it was indeed a Brimstone moth.

A Brimstone moth is much like a Brimstone butterfly. A Brimstone butterfly loves the daytime to suck nectar from flowers and to fly around showing its wings off to anyone who will look (my opinion is that they are showing off because why fly about in the light of day with majestic yellow wings if you are not showing them off)? Below is a picture of a Brimstone butterfly so you can see what is looks like:

A Brimstone moth is very similar to a Brimstone butterfly but instead of being a butterfly it is a moth. A Brimstone moth has extravagant wings with little brown triangles at the top. Like the majority of moths Brimstone moths come out at night, yet they crave the light. That is why they fly into houses with lights on such as nightlights, kitchen lights, living room lights, bathroom lights and any other sort of light really. They more commonly come into houses in the summer because that is when people leave their windows open so the moths fly in when they see the light. The best thing to do if you see a moth in your house is gently cup it inbetween your hands and move it outside. If you cannot catch it then just leave it be as it will not harm you.

Here is a Picture of the Brimstone moth who decided to come into my house:

Now about this moth who flew into my house, it may not look it but this moth is rather cheeky. It seems to move about from one place to the next silently and swiftly so I can never spot it moving. The first day of the moth moving in to live with us it was clinging to the wall by the staircase like it is shown on the picture above. And then on the second day it was in my kitchen sitting next to the kitchen plants. On the same day it swiftly moved without me spotting it onto the ceiling. Then on the third day (the day I am writing this) it was on one of the doors upstairs! I am not sure how it does it but for all I know it could be some kind of stealth moth (even though it is tempting to believe this there is no such thing as a stealth moth).

Now I will share some interesting facts about the Brimstone moth. Its scientific name is opisthograptis luteolata. The best time to see these beautiful moths is April to October and their wingspan is 2.8-4.2cm. This common moth can be found in grasslands, woodlands, towns and gardens. If you would like to try and find these moths I recomend you go out with a pencil, paper, torch and maybe if you have one a moth idenifcation book. I would suggest going out late April to early October to go moth hunting. Make sure you go out when it's dark so you have a chance of seeing a moth. You can use your pencil and paper to write down the moths you see and with the torch you can use it to find your way in the dark but also to attract moths to the light! Also another fun fact if you take a piece of white paper (A4 works well) you can shine the light of your torch onto it and they will land on it!

Hope you have enjoyed reading and I will be posting more like this soon!