Scarce and vulnerable local moths

Three scarce and vulnerable moths of the Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire landscape, the Four-spotted (Tyta luctuosa), Marsh Carpet (Gagitodes sagittata), and Silver-barred (Deltote bankiana), illustrate an important principle for nature recovery: it is not enough to provide the right foodplant. We need to restore the habitat system in which that plant naturally belongs. The Four-spotted is associated with warm, open, sparsely vegetated ground. Its larvae feed on Field Bindweed, normally regarded as an agricultural weed. The conservation opportunity is therefore not to plant bindweed, but to retain sunny banks, open grassland, patches of bare soil, and appropriate disturbance, while preventing scrub and rank vegetation from closing the habitat. The Marsh Carpet presents almost the opposite challenge. It is associated with wet fen and meadow, and its larvae feed on the developing seeds of Common Meadow-rue. Here, hydrology and nutrient status are critical. Restoring appropriate water…