Day 269 - Beautifully Brilliant and Magnificent Burnished Brass Moth

Burnished Brass Moth (Diachrysia chrysitis)

Hey everyone today's Day 269 and, as you will all most definitely know, I love to go to a place called Silton Forest on the edge of the North York Moors. It is an incredible place full of all different types of wildlife from Moths to Deer, from Birds to Beetles. Today, like a lot of posts recently, I will be covering the Moth side of things. This one was quite hard to see as it was actually camouflaged! I couldn't believe it when I saw this Moth. It's a Burnished Brass Moth, thanks to @jillwarrick for help with the identification. It looks like it's doing a little handstand on the leaf! It was out in the open so its camouflage must have been good enough to hide it from all the birds - but not from my beady-eyed Mum!

So here are the facts:

It was sat on this lighter coloured leaf among all the
darker leaves.

• The Wingspan ranges from 28mm - 35mm and the fore-wing ranges from 16mm  - 18mm.

• As we discovered they are fantastic at camouflaging themselves and their colouring blends in perfectly with leaves as they are brown and green, and have a slightly metallic appearance which is where they get their name from I think. There were lots of darker leaves around but the moth had picked on almost the same colour as it.

• They are found all over the UK though they are less common in Northern Ireland and Wales.

• I have noticed that I have quite a Global Audience so I thought I would write about where they are found around the rest of the World such as in Russia, Siberia, and Europe...

A moths eye view.

• ...including Spain, Southern Italy, The Caucasus Islands, and even in Japan and the Arctic Circle!

• This species lays two broods between June and September most commonly.

• The Larvae feed on plants such as Nettle and Marjoram where their eggs are laid. They can also eat and thrive on Red Valerian, Thistles and Buddleia.

• The Larvae hatch in late Summer, they feed for a while and then hibernate when they are quite small. They usually hibernate in leaf litter around a food-plant.

• Around April, Caterpillars wake up and start eating again. Then in May they will form a cocoon underneath a leaf, folding its edges around it.

It was doing a handstand
- how do their arms or legs not get tired?

• After about 4 weeks the Adult then emerges, this stage is where it eats a bit more, breeds and then the cycle starts again.

Here are some links to some more information:

Wikipedia - Burnished Brass Moth

NatureSpot - Burnished Brass Moth

UK Moths - Burnished Brass Moth

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.