As we've identified moths over the years and as others have corrected our identifications we've come across many cases where a simple visual identification is barely sufficient. On this page are a few examples that might help others make the right ID. When you click the moth names here you will be taken to the browse page for that moth so that you can look at the other photos we have of it and can check the time of year when that moth flies.
Suffolk Moths is another really useful resource where confusion species are concerned as it lists "confusion species" for every moth on its database.
We confused a Straw Dot with a Garden Pebble for ages. Thanks again to Joan Oakley for spotting our mistake. The Garden Pebble is on the left: it is more angular and has oval/smaller black dots than the Straw Dot.
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We thought we'd caught Sword Grass (on UK Moths here) whereas it seems we've actually been catching The Flame (left) all this time. Thanks to Joan Oakley for spotting our mistake. These shouldn't be confused with the Shuttle-shaped Dart (middle) or Turnip Moth (right). Note the shuttle on the Shuttle-shaped Dart, of which the picture below is the female form, the male being light-grey.
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On the left is a Clouded Drab, on the right a Common Quaker. These can appear awfully similar when worn. Thanks again to Bunnrolls for putting us right. Note that we've been particularly bad at identifying Common Quakers in the past, mostly confusing them with Uncertains or Vine's Rustics, so don't rely too much on the other pictures of Common Quakers on their browser page.
There are loads of pugs around, so this is just a small selection: Mottled (top), Double-striped (middle) and Brindled (bottom). We managed to confuse the bottom two; the Double-striped actually does have two lateral stripes. Thanks to Bunnrolls for putting us right.
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Turning to the larger pugs, this is a Toadflax Pug which we had initially confused with a Foxglove Pug. Dwallace tells us that the most helpful distinguishing feature is that the outer edge of the central cross-band is noticeably kinked near the leading edge in a Foxglove Pug. On our moth it is gently curved, which points to Toadflax.
We've confused these a number of times: Hebrew Character (left), Setaceous Hebrew Character (middle) and Double Square-spot (right).
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We think you can tell the difference between these by looking carefully at the markings on the wings:
There's also the Triple-spotted Clay, which Tony Prichard tells has white/pale cream/grey hind wings whereas the Double Square-spot has dark brown/grey hind wings.
A different sort of confusion here in that this moth comes in one form with a dark band across the middle and one without. All the below are Riband Wave.
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A distinctive feature that links them, according to Surreybirder, is the indentation of the outer bar towards the outer edge of the wing.
We've got this wrong several times now. The Dark Arches (right) has a strong white "W" mark, while the Nutmeg (left) has a pale patch on the termen (end of the wing) just inboard of the apex (tip). The Nutmeg is generally an ochreous moth, lighter coloured than Dark Arches. Thanks to Tony Prichard and Mike Wall for these tips.
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The greenness of pugs can vary from striking to non-existent but when striking it's quite overpowering and so there's a tendency to think "green means Green Pug". In the first case it is, in the second case the V means it's a V Pug.
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This is a lesson on resting wing position from Tony Prichard. We had thought the two moths side-by-side below were both Early Thorn, however it turns out that the one on the right is a Scalloped Hazel. The reason we made the misdiagnosis is that the picture below is a Scalloped Hazel. Resting wing position is not a distinguishing factor it seems.
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Both of the below are apparently Garden Rose Tortrix. Just amazingly variable.
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