Local entomologists shine a light on moth communities in the UK

Museums house unparallelled assemblages of knowledge, mostly in the forms of animal and plant specimens and, more rarely, written records such as diaries or notebooks that contain accounts of the natural world. These collections largely come from private collectors who then donate their work to museums for curation. The wildlife specimens are increasingly used to investigate long-term change in the environment. In contrast, written records are often discarded before they are deposited in museums, as they are presumed to be of little value.

At arrival, this collection was estimated to contain 40,000 moth specimens, and came with 17 books containing diaries and observations of moths from several different people spanning 82 years, kindly donated by the family of local naturalist and moth enthusiast Gerald Maruice Haggett (1927-2019).

They found that the new collection filled important gaps in the existing collection at the museum, as it was particularly rich in non-adult life stages (larvae and pupae) of many different species. By digitising the written records and analysing them, they found evidence of changes to moth emergence in the UK across 82 years, likely as a response to recent climate change. They also used a highly detailed notebook from a previous language professor and moth enthusiast Colin Smith (1927-1997) who repeatedly moth trapped in his garden for 24 years, and found declines in local moth abundance and diversity.

This new paper highlights the value of these written records for investigations of long-term change, and the value that these amateur entomologists have to research. They encourage naturalists to continue to amass and share this information, and when the time comes, deposit it safely in museums or record centres, so that they may be preserved and put towards future research.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/icad.70000 

Link: https://resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/icad.70000