Budding scientist recognised for researching moth activity

A GIRL from Middle Assendon has been awarded first place for her research into moths at the largest entomological fair in the UK.

Eve Chater, 14, who is in year 10 at Gillotts School in Henley, entered the Amateur Entomologists’ Society annual exhibition and trade fair held at Kempton Racecourse in Sunbury.

She was presented the Ansorge Award in the senior category for 13- to 18-year-olds by entomologist Beulah Garner, who is a senior curator at the Natural History Museum in London, on September 28.

Eve had been invited to attend the fair after she presented her work at the museum for the Young Entomologist Day in April for the Amateur Entomology Society.

She displayed photographs of her research and the activities she had taken part in this year, which included biodiversity and climate change in the local area.

Eve said: “I put together a bunch of different facts about moths and about the research that I’ve been doing over the past few months and where micro moths can be found.

“There were probably more than 30 exhibits and they were all really varied. There were exhibits on bees and woodlice and there were loads of really good ones. Some people did artwork and others did diaries. I was very pleased and excited by what I produced.”

Eve’s interest in moths was first sparked when she saw a Blue Underwing, known as Clifden Nonpareil, in 2021.

She said: “A couple of years ago, I saw this really cool moth. I got really curious about it because it was way bigger than all the other ones I had seen.”

Eve is as member of three entomology societies, including the British Entomological & Natural History Society, the Amateur Entomologists’ Society and the British Naturalist Society as a young naturalist. She has published two articles, one in the Amateur Entomologist Society Bulletin, which goes out to all its members, and one in the British Naturalist Society’s magazine.

In her spare time, she enjoys conducting research at the Angela Marmont Centre in the National History Museum. She is supported there by Dr Florin Feneru, who is an investigations and specimens officer, and Dr David Lees, who is a microlepidoptera curator.

Eve is allowed to enter the vaults and is provided a desk and microscope to help assist her with her studies.

She joined an Upper Thames Moth fieldwork day at Aston Rowant Nature Reserve, near Lewknor in May 2024 with Will Langdon, a graduate from the University of Oxford, where she discovered a female migrant macro moth, the Gem (Nycterosea obstipata) which had never had a recording in the reserve.

Eve, who set up moth traps with Mr Langdon, recorded more than 50 species overnight and looked for evidence on leaves on trees and on the ground where the moths had been.

In June, Dr Lees came to visit Miss Chater to take part in a sweep using nets at the Warburg Nature Reserve to explore the diversity there.

Eve said: “It’s very exciting and I’m very glad that they encouraged me to continue with my passion because it’s not like it’s a very big field.

“Right now I’d like to stick with moths, but I might end up doing beetles or just bugs in general but I would like to do something in the future related to natural history. I find it really interesting trying to identify them, in particular moths because they are very different. You can get really huge ones, which are 30cm big, or you can get really tiny ones that you can hardly see unless you’re under a microscope.

“I really like exploring what’s in the local area, because we live in such a beautiful area near the Chilterns which you take for granted when you walk along the hedgerows.”

Her mother Louise, 55, a special educational needs learning support assistant at Gillotts, said: “There's lots of encouragement. I think particularly for young girls in the field of science because it’s quite a male-dominated field for an occupation.

“When she goes into the Natural History Museum, it’s not uncommon that people go, ‘Oh, you’re Eve, the one who likes moths’. It’s a special place to learn.

“Most weekends we are doing something related to moths, but in winter it’s harder because of the damp weather, so you can’t go exploring as much.”