This week is Moth Week. It’s a week set aside to learn more about moths and maybe even get involved with a moth project if there is one in your area.
Yes, there are some moths we don’t want around. Potato moths are not a good sight if you are trying to grow spuds. And there are others that also like to eat things we would rather not have them eat. And I wish I could say we don’t have to worry much about them eating our clothing these days, since we don’t make a lot of things out of wool. But I have things made out of wool. And I have the holes to prove moths are still happy to provide that service to humans.
But there are also some pretty special looking moths. Especially the larger ones. Like the luna moth or the brown polyphemus moth. Both are fairly large and have interesting colours. Kind of surprising for a night time creature.
I can remember spending summer evening at the cottage. There was always an outside light right by the kitchen window. I would spend hours sitting there looking at all the different bugs it would attract. Which was fairly enjoyable, since there was a screen between me and them. But it was always fun to see what different ones we might get dropping by. And yes, this is what used to happen when all we had was two very fuzzy TV channels.
The first time I saw one of the large, brown polyphemus moths I thought it was some kind of bat. It was almost the same size. They aren’t common, but the large brown moths with very distinctive eye spots on the back are pretty impressive. As are the big green luna moths.
And there are a lot of very attractive smaller moths that are around as well. And not all of them are intent on eating our veggies and clothing.
These days, the TV reception is a lot better, but I still like sitting by a window with a light on. Just to see what might fly by.