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Oak Eggar moths out in force

Alun · 2007-06-18 12:46:41

Was up in the Wicklow Mountains (mainly the Camaderry area) at the weekend and saw literally dozens of Oak Eggar moths .. some hanging a little forlornly off of the heather (it was very misty and drizzly up top) and lower down where it was a bit drier, flying around. I'd noticed a lot of the caterpillars around earlier, so…

18-06-2007 1:46pm

#1

Alun

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Was up in the Wicklow Mountains (mainly the Camaderry area) at the weekend and saw literally dozens of Oak Eggar moths .. some hanging a little forlornly off of the heather (it was very misty and drizzly up top) and lower down where it was a bit drier, flying around. I'd noticed a lot of the caterpillars around earlier, so no real surprise really.

What did surprise me though is that I only spotted one male (darker colour and different antennae than the females) and all the others were female. On the entry on UKmoths.org, (http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?id=3077) they say the males are to be found flying during the day, whereas the females are nocturnal, which is pretty much the opposite of what I experienced.

Might there be another explanation for the disparity between the two sexes?

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