Around three-quarters of the Scottish population (74%) have some negative opinion of moths, with many people believing the majority eat clothes and are pests, a study has revealed.
A YouGov poll for wildlife charity Butterfly Conservation revealed that 61% of people in Scotland associated moths with eating clothes and around one in three (34%) with being pests.
Moths have long suffered an unfair reputation as the devourers of clothes despite the fact that only two out of more than 2,500 UK species are known to regularly feed on some fabrics. And rather than being pests, the vast majority of moths play important roles in the food chain and as pollinators.
Research found that 19% of people in Scotland thought moths were ugly and 16% believed they were scary. But, some held more positive views with 19% believing moths were important and almost a third (27%) that they were interesting.
In a bid to make the UK mad about moths Butterfly Conservation is launching Moths Matter, a campaign to overturn their unfair reputation.
Moths Matter will reveal how moths are a key food source for many other species, how they are fascinating and beautiful and how they play an important role as pollinators of wildflowers and garden plants.
The UK boasts charismatic and beautiful moths; the Death’s-head Hawk-moth can squeak like a mouse, the Mother Shipton has a witch’s face on its wings and the caterpillar of the Puss Moth can shoot acid out of its chest.
Leading moth scientist Dr Phil Sterling explained: “We are not that surprised by the findings. People may think of a few times a large moth has startled them and then write them off as annoying or unnecessary; that is wholly unfair.
“Think of the Humming-bird Hawk-moth you might see hovering around lavender in summer. It is a thing of beauty and of wonder as it feeds so precisely in each flower.
“Each of the 2,500 species tells a different story about the natural world of moths around us. Most of them get on with their lives at night and we don’t see them, but they are important to us, they pollinate many plants and they tell us about how the world is changing around us.”
Scientists have recently discovered that moths may play a much broader role as plant pollinators than previously suspected.
Moths are essential pollinators for some plants including several of the UK’s orchids and they may act as pollinators for a much wider range of plants than had been realised, possibly even some crops.
Some moths are much more mobile than bees and can dispense pollen over larger distances.
Moths and their caterpillars are important food for many other species, including amphibians, small mammals, bats and many bird species.
And despite the reputation as the destroyers of clothes there are only two common species, the Case-bearing Clothes Moth and the Common Clothes Moth, that eat fibres of animal origin such as wool, fur and feathers.
The UK’s moths are in trouble, two-thirds of common and widespread species have declined in the last 40 years.
Butterfly Conservation’s Moths Matter campaign will focus on a different theme each month, from spotting springtime caterpillars, planting a garden to attract night-flying visitors, to hunting for hawk-moths in hedgerows.
Look out for the #MothsMatter hashtag on social media to get involved.
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