Moth as beautiful as any butterfly

I believe the moth your correspondent Frank Pyle found in his garden in Twyford (Standard, September 15) was a Jersey tiger.

A similar one flew into our garden in Goring a while ago.

We tend to think of butterflies as colourful delicate insects while often seeing moths as dull, brown ones which appear at night and try to eat our clothes.

However, this Jersey tiger (Euplagia quadripunctaria) is as brightly patterned as many butterflies.

Its creamy white strips on its forewings and bright red/orange underwings with black spots are quite distinctive and it will fly both day and night.

The two photographs of this specimen were taken three seconds apart, the first one when it first appeared on a door frame with its wings closed and the second one after it flew a few metres away to a bush, exposing its distinctive flash of red.

There are more than 2,500 moth species in the UK and just 57 resident butterfly species and both are closely related insects (order Lepidoptera, Greek for “scaly wings”).

The Jersey tiger is considered one of the few colourful English moths which could easily be confused with a butterfly.

Its conservation status is “nationally scarce” and its distribution a few decades ago was largely limited to the Channel Islands and coastal areas in the South-West. However, it is now quite regularly seen in London and the Thames Valley. — Yours faithfully,

Ron Bridle

Goring

Sir, — Your correspondent Frank Pyle’s striped moth is a Jersey tiger moth, which are mainly found in the South and South-West. Sometimes they sit for hours on my patio door or brick wall in the sunshine. — Yours faithfully,

Stephanie Clarke

Richmond Road, Caversham

Sir, — The moth found in the garden of Frank Pyle is called a Jersey tiger (Euplagia quadripunctaria). — Yours faithfully,

Amanda Hawes

Brill

Sir, — I was interested to see Frank Pyle’s request for moth identification.

I, too, spotted this striking moth twice at home last month, once on the wall above our mailbox and once in the garden on a buddleia plant, which is always a good place for butterfly spotting.

I investigated online and found it is Euplagia, known as Jersey tiger moth or Spanish flag moth. — Yours faithfully,

Wendy Abbott Moody

Chiltern Road, Peppard Common