| Buff-tip moth - Phalera bucephala - Family: Notodontidae
 Buff-tip moth - Phalera bucephala© Rob Wolton/English NatureThis is an unusual and striking moth with grey forewings with a large pale cream blotch on each tip, creamy-white hindwings, and an orange-brown body. This strong pattern, coupled with its habit of folding its wings tightly along its body and jutting its pale buff thorax forward over its head, actually creates the illusion that the moth is just a dead and peeling piece of birch or oak stem, so fooling its predators into thinking it is not edible. There is one generation, and the buff-tip moth flies from June to July at night. The whitish eggs are laid in neatly arranged batches on the undersides of its larval food plants, usually elm, lime or hazel, although other trees and shrubs are also chosen. Black caterpillars with bright yellow lattice markings feed in groups until nearly full-grown in August and September but rarely cause serious damage to trees. The moth pupates on the ground. The buff-tip is found throughout the British Isles and is often common in deciduous woodlands, parks and gardens. FoodLeaves of limes (Tillia sp.), oaks (Quercus sp.), hazel (Corylus avellana) and willows (Salix sp.). PlantsDowny birch, Goat willow, Hazel, Large-leaved lime, Pedunculate oak, Sessile oak, Silver birch, Small-leaved lime |
