Wildlife

James Lowen 

There were plenty of familiar ‘faces’ – both from previous trips and mothing in the UK. Think Dark Sword-grass, Rusty-dot Pearl, Delicate, Bordered Straw, Vestal, Small Mottled Willow, Cosmopolitan, Silver Y, Garden Carpet, Shuttle-shaped Dart, Blair’s Mocha, Apamea syriaca, Silver Cloud, the remarkable Eutelia adulatrix (for which leader Philip Precey coined a novel vernacular, ‘Blue-eyed Flatterer’) Crocidosema plebejana, Lamoria anella etc. We also had some less-regular moths, such as the eye-catching Pale Shoulder, Striped Hawk-moth, Purple Marbled and Ni Moth.

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4 April 2026 Cyprus moths III

I have blogged about mothing in Cyprus in April 2024 and March 2025. Now, as then, there appears to be little information around about moths in the country – which is a shame, because there’s plenty of exciting critters to see. This week, as part of the Wildlife Travel tour, I ran a twin actinic from the bedroom patio of our hotel near Latsi – aiming to show our group some of the more exciting and/or attractive nocturnal lepidoptera enticed trap wards. I ran the trap every evening, although conditions were only properly promising on two mild, muggy, still nights.

Wildlife

Given that I have mothed twice in Cyprus at very nearly the same time of year, a surprising number of species were new for me. The star was the endemic geometer Dyscia simplicitaria – for which ours was only the eighth dot on the iNaturalist map. Might this moth be rare? Other ‘newbs’ included Gregson’s Dart, the crambid Hydriris ornatalis, the erebid Zethes insularis, the tortrix Lobesia botrana, Dark Mottled Willow, Marigold Shark (though presumably the ‘Shark’ I caught in 2025 was this species), Coenotephria ablutaria (a Mediterranean geometer), the coronet Hadena adriana (an eastern Mediterranean speciality for which our record was only the second location on the iNaturalist Cyprus map) and the striking eastern Mediterranean beauty Peribatodes correptaria.

What will next spring bring (come and join us next year!)? Or what might mothing at another time of year bring?