…a guest blog written by MSc Evolution, Behaviour and Ecology student at the University of Exeter, Clemmie Little.
In my experience, there is a broad consensus that moths are little dusty creatures who eat your clothes – but did you know only two species of over 2,500 that live in the UK do that?
Moths are a really important part of our ecosystems. They, and their caterpillars, are key parts of the food chain, feeding so many bigger animals, such as hedgehogs, bats, garden birds, frogs and ladybirds. Moths also pollinate lots of the flowers in our gardens, hedgerows and fields: one study has found that moths pollinate blackberry brambles more efficiently than bees!
Leaving aside their “usefulness”, they are also incredibly beautiful. My favourites include the White Ermine (Spilosoma lubricipeda) and the Maiden’s Blush (Cyclophora punctaria), both pictured below.
Moth populations are declining steadily in the UK and worldwide. One contributor to this is light pollution, which is increasing globally at about 10% every year. However, exactly how moths respond to artificial light is still poorly understood.
Classic flight-to-light behaviour is often observed – ‘like a moth to a flame’. Constant light exposure has been found to decrease overall moth activity, while pulsed headlight-like light seems to cause blindness and disorientation for nearly an hour. Some research has looked specifically at the impacts of streetlights, but no research to date has focussed on light spill from our windows or how this can be tackled.
Maiden’s Blush (Cyclophora punctaria) © Ben Sale (CC BY 2.0)
White Ermine (Spilosoma lubricipeda) Moth © Kentish Plumber (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Light spill
Light spill from our windows is important to think about because it is the primary source of light pollution in a really valuable conservation space…
…our back gardens!
Combined, our gardens cover 34,000 km2 in the UK – that’s bigger than all National Nature Reserves put together.
Our gardens are also home to about half of the UK’s bird, reptile, amphibian and butterfly species, so, it is really important that we understand how light pollution affects our gardens and what we, the people who look after our gardens, can do about it.
That’s where you come in…
Get involved and help discover the night shift
Moth Project UK is a national citizen science experiment that wants to find out how shutting our curtains can protect the wildlife living alongside us – something no published research has addressed to date. All you need is:
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- an hour at home, one night a week, after dark;
- a window, with a fabric curtain, that faces away from a lit road, onto a garden.
That’s it! You won’t even be busy for the full hour and there’s a raffle for participation with a £50 voucher and beautiful, limited-edition lino-prints to be won!*
No specialist knowledge is needed. But, if there are any moth enthusiasts taking part you are invite to include additional information and, if you are able to ID the moths to family, genus or species level then you can submit this extra data too!
Moth Project UK will run until 14 June 2026, with results submitted every week. Check out our Facebook page Moth Project UK and Instagram @mothprojectuk for full instructions and more information.
Results can be submitted after each evening collecting data via a Google Form (https://forms.gle/A6wAHAbdS8qGnJpf8) which will also be available via our social media pages.
*After submitting data for the project, participants will be directed to another form to leave their email address to enter the raffle if they wish to. The prizes available are one £50 voucher of their choice and 16 editions of the print.