Do you like moths?

[Soubriquet]

Cos I currently have one!

Found him when I was out walking and he was just laid on the path and didn’t seem happy about the wind.

So I currently have him in a butterfly enclosure with some sugar water to give him the day to recuperate and hopefully he can be released tonight

So meet Mothra. The elephant hawk moth

Wow - so beautiful.

Night time butterfly

Exactly!

I never understand people who like butterflies but hate moths

Beautiful! He's probably just emerged from his pupa, I found one in my greenhouse a few years ago.

Do you think he’s probably just emerged?

I thought he might be on the way out.

Whatever the life span, google tells me they don’t like high winds and it’s very windy here today.

I guess he couldn’t find any suitable hiding spot before the winds hit.

I'm scared of them.

Gorgeous!

I think I prefer moths to butterflies if I'm honest.

I will say I love butterflies but moths are usually a lot more beautiful

I hate moths with a passion I can't go into the same room as one without turning into a quivering wreck but I love butterflies and will let them land on me and will happily spend time I'm a butterfly house. It's completely irrational. I'm scared/nervous/stupid around most bugs with the exception of ladybirds which are also welcome to land on me.

I've tried to understand why I'm like this as it doesn't really make any sense and the only possibility I can come up with is that butterflies and ladybirds are generally portrayed as being friendly and harmless in children's books and tv programmes. So maybe it all stems back to my childhood

I don’t like clothes moths at ALL! Big ones are different.

Nice to look at but I hate things that fly. I took the kids to a butterfly enclosure once and it completely freaked me out. Birds are fine as they are unlikely to fly into my face (bar the seagull that stole my friend's sunglasses).

Yeah I know lots of people who love butterflies but hate moths

Apart from ones who eat your clothes, surely you should see them just like nighttime butterflies?

But I get irrational fears

I don’t like the little ones that come in at night - they don’t move like butterflies, that’s the trouble - butterflies fly gracefully, moths flap madly

Like looking at the beautiful ones though. That’s an elephant hawk moth

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deilephila_elpenor

Yep. I also think it’s a Male as apparently females are brighter in colour

Lovely. :)

Ohh, he's a beaut. I'm very fond of moths. I think it's the big chunky bodies that people don't like. I would let him have a rest until the winds have died down then find a nice sheltered spot to release him.

I love moths. Butterflies with no make up on!

I love moths.

I'm terrified of moths.

Can appreciate the majesty of that beast though, just not up close 😬

I used not to mind them, especially the small ones in our house that seem to be just living their moth lives, doing no harm, like not going crazy fluttering around lights like bigger moths do.

That was until I discovered they’d eaten a massive chunk out of the carpet behind the door. The bastards.

I don't generally have any strong feeling about moths either way, but one of the cats chased one of these into the house last year and it was beautiful. And absolutely huge!

Yeah he’s having a nice rest in the enclosure not being bothered by anyone

He has some sugar water on a butterfly feeder too but so far all he has really done is rest against the mesh like that.

So we shall see what he does later

I love moths (and butterflies), they are just so beautiful. I'm working on growing more night-scented plants in the garden, to provide a food source for them.

I found the photo I took in the greenhouse - ago years ago! That was in July.

Love moths. Rescued a beautiful white one out of the bath yesterday, I thought he was a goner, but he flew off. Pure pure white.

@ThomasHardyPerennial
What plants are you thinking off?