Kildare's Wildlife Watch: How to tell a moth and a butterfly apart

My sister arrived downstairs one morning last week and found a visitor resting on the front door of her home. Not knowing what she was looking at, she took a photo and sent it to me with the question, ‘is this a butterfly?’

My sister’s visitor was the cinnabar moth and not a butterfly. Typically, butterflies are brightly coloured and moths are duller in appearance — however, the bright black and red patterned wings on the cinnabar moth confuse many.

The saying goes ‘there are exceptions to the rules’ and the colours of the cinnabar moth is an example of one of these exceptions.

The best way I suggest to identify between a moth and a butterfly is to look at the position of the wings at rest.

Moths always rest with their wings to the side of its body, while if a butterfly feels threatened it will close its wings together above its body.

The cinnabar moth can be observed in a variety of habitats around Ireland.

The food plant of the caterpillar, also known as a larva, is both ragwort and groundsel. As both these species can be found in a variety of habitats, it enables the cinnabar moth to have a good range across the country.

The caterpillars of the cinnabar moth are striped black and orange and you can expect to see them emerging in the next few weeks. There are a number of moths with both red and black wing colours including both the six and five spotted burnet moth.

You should always use the patterns of the colours on the wings to help you identify between species.

If you have not visited the Bog of Allen Nature Centre yet I suggest you save the date of July 24 in your diary as we will be celebrating International Bog Day.

With support from Kildare County Council, admission is free with pond dipping, a bog walk and guided tours of the peatland exhibition all planned.

Don’t forget, if you come across a wildlife species that you would like help identifying I would be happy to help. Contact me at [email protected].