The 20-year search for a vanishing custard-and-chocolate coloured moth

August 15, 2026 at 06:00 AM

Yorkshire common was thought to be the only known site of dark bordered beauty moths in England – until now

Vote here for your favourite invertebrate of the year

Dave Wainwright first surveyed Wallington in Northumberland for a rare custard-and-chocolate coloured moth in 2004. He parked two miles from the site, hauled a moth trap across, and was bitten by a million flies.

He did not find a single dark bordered beauty that night. The ground was heavily grazed by sheep, and the creeping willow the caterpillars depend on was “quite well plucked”.

Shown as published in the source's RSS feed — the text above is everything the feed itself carried. Follow the source link for the complete article on the publisher's own site; it opens in a new tab.