Introducing Common Spring Moths

 

Oak Beauty Biston strataria - Dorset 23.3.26

If you are new to moth recording then Spring is a great time to start. Moth numbers are manageable, so you can proceed at a relaxed pace without the stress that comes with a big summer catch. Mornings are still chilly, so any moths that you do catch are likely to be docile and will wait patiently while you work out what you've got. All in all, Spring mothing provides excellent foundation for the more hectic days that are yet to come.  

A recent run of cold nights has discouraged me from running the moth trap, but yesterday seemed warm enough to give it a go - and I'm pleased that I did. A total of 45 moths from 10 species represents a good return for the garden trap at this time of the year. As it happens, many of Spring's 'usual suspects' turned up, which is a good excuse for a blog post.

Last night I used my normal 125W mercury vapour Robinson trap. We're in a small village about a mile inland from the Dorset coast, which is great for attracting interesting migrant moths in Summer and Autumn (one for a separate blog!), but is notoriously slow at delivering the goods on Spring's colder nights. This may be because the village sits on a cool north-facing slope, a problem amplified by the need to avoid dazzling our neighbours which means that I run the trap in a north-facing rear garden. 

Anyway, that's enough excuses! As I explained on a previous moth identification blog, the UK's larger moths (aka 'macro-moths') are dominated by two main families - the noctuids and the geometrids. I've described the key features of these (and other) families in that blog post (link here), but in essence the noctuids are generally thick-set and chunky, while the geometrids tend to rest more like butterflies, with their wings usually (but not always) spread open like the Oak Beauty pictured at the start of this post. Both are well-represented at this time of year, while other moth families may be harder to track down.

Noctuids

Three species tend to dominate the trap at this time of the year, all noctuids. First, the Hebrew Character (below), which accounted for almost a third of the moths in my trap this morning.

Hebrew Character Orthosia gothica - Dorset 23.3.26

The saddle-shaped black mark on the wings of this moth is the key identification feature. No other Spring-flying moth has this, although if you are using AI identification apps you need to be aware that there is a similar (and also common) moth of Summer and Autumn called the Setaceous Hebrew Character. If you want to know more about moth identification resources then have a look at this blog that I posted a couple of years ago. Hebrew Character moths are found across most of Britain and Ireland; they over-winter in a pupa (cocoon) and emerge to feed on the flowers (catkins) of willows and sallows. 

This food source is also the target of the second common Spring noctuid - the Early Grey:

Early Grey Xylocampa areola - Dorset 23.3.26

Early Grey moths have a marbled pattern that can at first appear confusing, but once you have got your eye in then it's easily recognised. Although a few other species appear superficially similar (such as Shears), their flight period usually will not coincide with that of Early Grey - which will be over by May. The Early Grey has a widespread distribution across most of England and Wales, but is more patchy in Scotland (outside the Central Belt) and Ireland.

The third common Spring noctuid needs a bit more thought. This is the Common Quaker:

Common Quaker Orthosia cerasi - Dorset 23.3.26

In many ways, Common Quakers are the classic noctuid moth. I use an image of one in my moth identification course to illustrate some the main wing markings that are so important for getting a successful ID. These are the oval and kidney markings on each wing (in the jargon these are the 'orbicular and reniform stigmata'), which are neatly outlined in white, and the conspicuous white cross-line (the 'postmedian fascia'). Common Quakers are frequent across most of Britain and Ireland, especially in woodland, and regularly turn up in garden traps. But do beware: there is a very similar species (Vine's Rustic) that can easily be confused for Common Quaker; however, Vine's Rustic flies later in the year. By the time that June arrives the Common Quakers should have disappeared.

Less common, but still frequently recorded in England and Wales (less so in Scotland and Ireland) is the Small Quaker:

Small Quaker Orthosia cruda - Dorset 23.3.26

Like its namesake, Small Quaker also has white-lined oval and kidney markings. However, they are smaller and less distinct than on Common Quaker, and there is often a dark splodge within the kidney. Also, the moth is generally lighter in colour and plainer in appearance. It's not really a looker, I'm afraid. As the name suggests, Small Quakers are usually smaller than Common Quakers, although both species are variable in size and there can be an overlap. Here they are side-by-side this morning; while you can make out the size difference, it's not exactly obvious:

Small Quaker (left) and Common Quaker (right) - Dorset 23.3.26

For the sake of completeness here, I'm adding in a moth that didn't appear last night (and in fact hasn't appeared here yet this year) but which is relatively common at this time of year despite experiencing recent declines in both distribution and abundance. This is the Powdered Quaker (the photo is from last year):

Powdered Quaker Orthosia gracilis - Dorset 3.4.25

The key identification feature here is the generally speckled appearance, which is usually obvious despite some variation in the background colour - although most of the ones that I see are the dirty creamy-grey colour shown above. Powdered Quakers are found over most of England and Wales, but in Scotland are more common in the south and west. 

The common English names of the UK's moths are a source of much interest. They can be quirky (for example the Mother Shipton), descriptive (the Silver Y springs to mind) or just plain bizarre (like the Ni Moth). Many are rooted in history, dating back to a wave of moth-naming in the 1600s and 1700s. The various Quakers surely date from this period.

Unfortunately, such names are unreliable when it comes to understanding how moth species are classified and related to each other. If you've noticed the scientific names on this blog's photo captions, you will see that Common and Small Quakers closely related as well as similar in appearance: they are part of the same genus (Orthosia). But so is the Hebrew Character, which has very different wing markings. The final two noctuids that I'm introducing in this blog underline this confusion. First is the Clouded Drab, which is also in the Orthosia genus:

Clouded Drab Orthosia incerta - Dorset 23.3.26

If it could have a say in the matter, the Clouded Drab would probably be less than chuffed with whoever decided on its common name. Although rather plain, its colour and patterning can have a subtle charm. While its appearance can be variable (the scientific name incerta means 'not fixed'), it can normally be recognised by its large size (bigger than all of the previous moths), rather pointed wing tips and the generally muted oval and kidney markings (although these can be more obvious than in the example pictured above). Two similar species (Lead-coloured Drab and Northern Drab) are much more localised and I have yet to see either in my trap. Clouded Drab has a similar distribution to Common Quaker.

My last noctuid is Twin-spotted Quaker (below), which despite its name is not in the Orthosia genus:

Twin-spotted Quaker Anorthoa munda - Dorset 23.3.26

This is also a large moth, similar in size to Clouded Drab, and as its name suggests is usually recognised by the presence of two obvious black dots near to the outer edge ('termen') of the wing. In the example that I caught this morning (above) these dots are actually orange - and not very obvious. But they are there if you look. I should explain at this point that the way that moth wings are described can be confusing to the newcomer. By convention, the base of a moth's wing is the point at which it joins the moth's body (thorax), which is usually at the top of most moth images. The outer edge (or termen) of the wing is therefore the bit that's furthest away from the base, which in this case is at the bottom of the photo. It does make sense, but it also needs a bit of getting used to. Anyway, Twin-spotted Quakers are fairly common in England and Wales and seem to be spreading north in Scotland.

Geometrids

Geometrids (or geometer moths) seem to be much more scarce in the Spring months. Only three species have turned up here so far in 2026, although as I've already said it has been a quiet start to the year. The most spectacular is undoubtedly the Oak Beauty pictured at the start of this blog. Here's another one from a couple of years ago:

Oak Beauty Biston strataria - Dorset 22.1.24 (an early arrival)

Oak Beauty is one of the most sought-after Spring arrivals, and it's always nice to see. The two reddish-brown jagged bands across the wings are found in no other UK moth species. Despite the name, the caterpillars (larvae) of this moth feed on a range of broadleaved trees and shrubs - not just Oaks. They are widely distributed across England and Wales but may be spreading into Scotland. It is one of several moth species that are showing a curious trend: while overall abundance is decreasing, their distribution is widening.  (There is more about this in my blog post on insect decline - link here.)

Similar in shape, but not markings and colouration, is Brindled Beauty (below). Unfortunately I'm still waiting for this one in 2026, so here's an example from last year:

Brindled Beauty Lycia hirtaria - Dorset 3.4.25

Brindled Beauty is widespread across Wales, southern and central England and the Scottish Highland, but appears less common in northern England and southern Scotland - a curiously scattered distribution. Its dark markings separate it from the male Pale Brindled Beauty (below - another one from last year):

Pale Brindled Beauty (male) Phigalia pilosaria - Dorset 14.1.25

Pale Brindled Beauty is distributed more widely than its darker namesake, but both species have suffered significant declines in abundance (83% and 78% respectively). One significant difference between the two species is that Pale Brindled Beauty females are flightless; the females have no wings and therefore have very limited mobility, a characteristic that is shared by a number of other early-flying species including the March Moth (see below). 

One of the most distinctive Spring geometrids is Early Thorn (below), pictured last month. The Thorns are some of the few UK moths that hold their wings vertically when resting.

Early Thorn Selenia dentaria - Dorset 23.2.26

There are eith UK Thorn species of which only two appear in the Spring months. Early Thorn is the most common and widespread, although it is even more frequent during its later second generation in July and August. The formal term for such double-brooded species is 'bivoltine'. The other Spring-flying species is the arguably more spectacular Purple Thorn (below); I don't see many of those here, so have had to dig into the archives for an image from 2022.

Purple Thorn Selenia tetralunaria - Dorset 16.4.22

The coloured banding on the underside of Purple Thorn's wings is strikingly different to that of Early Thorn. If you compare the two images you will see that small white crescent 'moons' can be seen on the underside of each of Purple Thorn's four wings (hence tetralunaria) while only two (on the hindwings) are seen on Early Thorn. (The much rarer Lunar Thorn also has four 'moons', but flies a bit later in the year.) But the key distinction is that Early Thorn is the only UK Thorn species that holds its wings pressed together; in Purple Thorn, and the others, a gap is maintained.

Very different in appearance from most other geometrids is the March Moth (below), which despite its name can appear as early as January. The first male of the year turned up here at the end of February, but this image is from one observed last year. Like the Pale Brindled Beauty (see above) the females of this species cannot fly.

March Moth male Alsophila aescularia - Dorset 23.2.25

Erebidae

All but one of the larger (macro-) moths that I have trapped this year belong to the two main families described above. The exception is the beautiful Herald (below), which I discovered sitting on a garden chair next to the moth trap this morning. Fortunately it had escaped the attention of the local Robin. 

Herald Scoliopteryx libatrix - Dorset 23.3.26

Claiming this as a Spring moth is a bit of a cheat, as the Herald flies during most months of the year. However, unlike all of the species described above, it overwinters as an adult, finding cover in a quiet location such as a natural cave or somebody's garden shed before emerging around March. Historical data shows that the average time of emergence has moved forward several weeks since the 1970s, yet another climate change-related effect.  

That concludes my brief run-through of the most commonly-seen Spring moths. Numbers of species, and of individual moths, will start to rise as the year progresses, so I doubt whether I can attempt another seasonal survey. But more moth blogs will be coming. In the meantime, happy mothing!

References

Identification references used are set out in more detail in a separate blog - link here.

Distribution and abundance information is from the excellent Atlas of Britain and Ireland's Larger Moths (Randle et al, 2019).