Wild Matters: Farmer-led initiative helping reveal the magic of moths

The Farmer Moth Monitoring Project is opening our eyes to the world of moths, helping us to appreciate and value these secret inhabitants of our ecosystems

The pale wings of the buff tipped moth match exactly with the pale mottled bark of birch trees and round brown ends mimic the broken end of a birch twig. Picture: iStock

A lot of people think of moths only as annoying creatures who make holes in our clothes and chomp through heirloom woollen rugs. I went to a short play in Dublin about moths, excited to see how the producers would convey their beaty and diversity to their audience. I was gutted to discover that the play was entirely focused on the cloth eating ways of the 2 species here that eat cloth.

Meanwhile, the other 1,503 moth species native to Ireland are busy providing essential pollinating services and supporting food webs for wild birds and bats. Yet out of these 1,505 species, we fixate on the two species whose larvae eat clothing. The tiny caterpillars of clothes moths feed on keratin, a protein found in natural fibres such as wool. These little larvae like to chomp away in the undisturbed darkness of unventilated spaces, which is why they thrive under furniture, in boxes, or other such places where clothes are stored away for a long time. For this, we often hear the word ‘moth’ as synonymous with the annoyance of ruined jumpers or woollen jackets. I too have been upset to discover some of my favourite clothes full of moth holes after being stored away for a year, but these moths are in no way representative of their kind.