On 24/7/07 07:11, in article , "Malcolm"
wrote:


In article , Sacha
writes
On 23/7/07 17:57, in article
, "Dave Poole"
wrote:

Sacha, that's the 'Jersey Tiger Moth', although it is found throughout
much of Europe and beyond. It is quite frequently seen in S. Devon
and is a fairly common visitor to my garden - more so than any other
Tiger moth.

Thanks, David. Bizarre though it sounds, I don't remember seeing it in
Jersey. Perhaps I was just extremely unobservant or lived in the wrong part
of the island. Anyhow 'my' moth took off this evening from the porch and
will, I hope, survive this vile weather. Ray says he's seen them around
here from time to time but I never have. Why does the French site describe
it as protected, do you know? From all this, it doesn't sound rare or
endangered, surely?

Sacha

Dave is right that's it's a Jersey Tiger. It's an occasional migrant
from France which has successfully colonised the south coast of England.
This comes from the Field Guide to Moths of Great Britain and Ireland
(2003):
"Resident and suspected immigrant. Well established and quite numerous
along the south coast of Devon, from just west of Dartmouth to just east
of Bridport, Dorset. Extends inland around Exeter and to the edge of
Dartmoor, and there are also records from the Plymouth area. Single
examples have been recorded from further east, from Portland, Dorset, to
the Isle of Wight and Sussex. Some of these could have been immigrants,
but the pattern of records suggests that colonies have been established
ont he south coast of the Isle of Wight and near Rye, on the Sussex
coast. Widespread and abundant in the Channel Islands."

Definitely very unobservant of me - or a bad memory! Perhaps with
encroaching age I'm taking more time to stand and stare! It's such a
beautiful thing so I hope our visitor survived. We're very close to the
edge of Dartmoor, so that would account for it. We get hummmingbird
hawkmoths, too and last year one of the staff in the nursery saw a Large
Blue in one of the greenhouses, so I hope that comes back again.
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'