Shandy Hall Moths
16 July 2026
The Splendid Scarlet Tiger
The morning of our next moth trap dawned cold, gray, and extremely windy. I was almost having trouble standing upright and I couldn’t imagine how our Lepidoptera were able to fly on such papery wings. I guess they’re stronger than they look! Luckily, the dismal weather didn’t deter a colorful new moth species: the Scarlet […]
11 July 2026
An Uncertainty of Species
Two English moths are said to resemble each other more than most: the Rustic (Hoplodrina blanda) and the Uncertain (Hoplodrina alsines). The latter is even named after this confusion! For the past three traps, we’ve had plenty of the slightly rougher and more robust Uncertain, but this week I finally found what looks like the […]
6 July 2026
A New Micro-moth that Inhabits Where Others Do Not
Moths often make their homes in unexpected places. Some are so specialized they are only found where their host plants grow, and are diminishing as the particular habitats and environmental conditions they evolved with disappear. Others are doing the opposite: as human activity and industrialization alter the vegetation and vary temperatures, they’re increasing in number […]
6 July 2026
Brown Moths and ‘Binsey Poplars’
In ‘Binsley Poplars,’ Gerard Manley Hopkins’ poetic eulogy for a row of felled aspens in Oxford, he describes the trees’ lovely habit of catching sunlight: ‘My aspens dear, whose airy cages quelled,/quelled or quenched in leaves the leaping sun,/all felled, felled, are all felled.’ Though home to no aspens, Shandy Hall has two of the […]
29 June 2026
SHANDY HALL MOTH LIST to August 2025 (alphabetical with links)
A list of the moths caught and recorded at Shandy Hall up to August 2025 can be found here. Each species name links to our posts about each moth. Thanks to Sophia Hernandez (UPenn intern 2025) for updating and preparing this list in alphabetical order from the list originally made by Autumn Cortright in 2023. […]
11 August 2025
Rise of the AI Naturalist
Flipping through a bulky moth field guide book can be extremely intimidating. Opening up a trap full of hundreds of similar-looking insects even more so. While I may have embellished my feelings about my first moth trap in an earlier blog, I’ll come clean now and say that frustration was the overwhelming sensation once I […]
8 August 2025
Best Moths for a Haunted Abbey
A short walk from Shandy Hall looms the Gothic ruins of Byland Abbey, a site I frequently explore in the evenings after things wrap up here. If I sit long enough in the meadows between the medieval stone walls, I often see moths begin to flutter as the sun dips behind the Hambleton Hills. A […]
3 August 2025
The Real and Fake Deaths of Moths
Every time we peer into our trap I’m overcome with a feeling I can only liken to opening up a rare box of chocolates or trading cards. Left alone with the moths in the shade of the crisp Yorkshire morning air, I’m both delighted and overwhelmingly grateful for the opportunity to handle such wonderful little […]
24 July 2025
The Colonizers of Yorkshire
Each summer, the mothscape over Yorkshire shifts in subtle ways. Some of these changes are down to better luck or keener eyes, but others hint at something larger: the quiet, ongoing reshaping of our ecosystems. As temperatures rise, many moth species once confined to southern England are steadily making their way north. It’s not just […]
12 July 2025
Glamour in the Dark: Two Newcomers Arrive at Shandy Hall
When I moved to Shandy Hall for my summer internship, I imagined something quiet, bookish, maybe a few dusky moths fluttering lazily around old lamps. What I didn’t expect was to be flung headfirst into a Gatsby-esque whirlwind of creatures in velvet and brocade, each more eccentric and dazzling than the last. If this summer’s […]
13 September 2023
25 July 2023 – Collective Noun for Hawkmoths
Single-dotted Wave (Idaea dimidiata) The initially inconspicuous Single-dotted Wave (Idaea dimidiata) has unexpectedly become one of my favorite moths, on account of their grace, beauty, and seemingly humble personality. I often find them perched vertically on the walls of the cottage, clinging on to the curtains, or, as in this case, blending into the pattern […]
15 August 2023
MOTH LIST to August 2023 with links
A list of moths found at Shandy Hall to August 2023 can be found here, and each name links to our posts about each moth. Our thanks to Autumn Cortright, our 2023 intern from UPenn, for helping to prepare this list. If you want to search for a particular moth, you can also use the […]
Recent Moths
- The Splendid Scarlet Tiger
- An Uncertainty of Species
- A New Micro-moth that Inhabits Where Others Do Not
- Brown Moths and ‘Binsey Poplars’
- SHANDY HALL MOTH LIST to August 2025 (alphabetical with links)
- Rise of the AI Naturalist
- Best Moths for a Haunted Abbey
- The Real and Fake Deaths of Moths
- The Colonizers of Yorkshire
- Glamour in the Dark: Two Newcomers Arrive at Shandy Hall
- 25 July 2023 – Collective Noun for Hawkmoths
- MOTH LIST to August 2023 with links
