Moths of an Urban Garden #2 - Buff Ermine

The Buff Ermine moth (Spilosoma lutea) is a common and widespread moth in Britain and Ireland, although it is absent from large parts of eastern and central Scotland and smaller parts of northern England. Its global distribution covers a very broad band of territory in Europe and Asia, going as far east as Japan and including southern Siberia and northern Turkey. 

This pretty little moth is in a family of moths that includes some very colourful species (the Tiger Moths) as well as some fairly dull-looking ones, such as the Footmans (or should it be Footmen?). The adults are usually a nice creamy-yellow colour with some small black spots, mostly in a curvy line but with a few scattered around as well. It can be told from the buff forms of  White Ermine by the pattern and density of the black spots.

Buff Ermines fly at night but often come to light, and they are common in gardens so you may have seen one in your house. 

The caterpillars feed on a wide range of different plants, many of them extremely common, such as Stinging Nettles and docks and the older caterpillars, which are hairy and brown, are the most commonly encountered hairy caterpillar in most parts of the UK. When the caterpillars have finished growing, in late autumn,  they creep into dead plant material and form a pupa (what you might know as a chrysalis or coccoon) and spend the winter in this form before emerging as an adult moth from mid-May.

The name 'Ermine' comes from the resemblance of some species (notably White Ermine) to the ermine cloaks of medieval kings, which were made from the white winter coats of Stoats - the black spots on the cloaks coming from the  tips of the Stoats' tails which stay black all year.

An adult Buff Ermine moth, caught at my garden
moth trap in Middlesbrough, 25th June 2020

A Buff Ermine caterpillar which I found in Park End,
Middlesbrough, at the end of September 2021