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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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, but we've no idea how to separate that out.
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.
For those who have trouble differentiating between a Large Nutmeg (left), a Light Brocade (middle) and a Dark Arches (right) a useful diagnostic mark to pick out the Nutmeg is the pale patch on the termen (end of the wing) just inboard of the apex (tip). Thanks to Mike Wall on the bird forum discussion lists for this tip.
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