Day 342 - Fabulous Footmen

Common Footman (Eilema lurideola) at Titchwell
(though also told it might be Dingy Footman)

Hey Everyone, well it's Day 342 and I've got a species for you today that I've seen in several places this year. This could be one on my Titchwell Toilet series as I've seen them there. There was also one or two in the trap when we did the moth trapping at Nosterfield Open Day, and I've also had them in my house. I'm sure I've seen them other places too but these are the main ones that I remember. If you read my blog regularly you'll probably have guessed by now that its a moth that I'm covering today, and it is in fact the Fabulous Footman. It's a lovely moth, and it has quite a unique look compared to most moths I know.

So I did my research and here's what I found out about them:

And one at Nosterfield

• Well not surprisingly I found that they are found across most of England and Wales but are only found in bits of Ireland and Scotland.

• They like habitats like farmland, marshes, gardens and woodland - but there has to be lichen.

• Why does there have to be lichen? Well that because their larvae feed on it.

• They have a wingspan of 28-35mm but I've never seen one with its wings stretched out.

• I've only ever seen them like they are in the photos here where the wings are wrapped around their body.

• When they hold their wings like this they are supposed to look a bit like a Footman which was a type of servant - I looked this up and the Queen was looking for a new Footman this year so they still exist!

And a bugs eye view :-)

• Well you might see the Queens Footman all year but this moth you will most likely see between May and August with a peak in July.

• The ones I've seen are the Common Footman (or maybe the Dingy Footman) but there are at least five types of Footman moth in the UK, Common, Buff, Scarce, Dingy and Orange. The Eakringbirds website has some great pictures of them

• Well there's not so much I could find out about this moth but I did notice that the Common Footman wasn't one of the species that Linnaeus named! I haven't seen one of those for a while, this was named by some one called Johann Leopold Theodor Friedrich Zincken - a German entomologist in 1817.

If you want to see more pictures and information try these sites

eakringbirds.com - Footman Moths

NatureSpot - Common Footman

UK Moths - Common Footman

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.

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