Seaview Wildlife has become greatly involved in the conservation and monitoring of an extremely rare Moth. The Reddish Buff Moth which is classed as an endangered species, breeds in sparse open vegetation where the larvae feed on leaves of Saw-wort and is only found in very localised areas of the Isle of Wight.
Tara, Head Keeper, is working closely alongside other BIAZA collections on the Island as well as the Butterfly Conservation Trust and The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Trust to survey and monitor the distribution, breeding and feeding habits of this allusive Moth in the hope that we can encourage the overall population to increase and conserve the natural habitat in which it exists.
Tara has been trained to use a suction sampling method in order to survey areas of the Isle of Wight including Cranmore SSSI, Bouldner and Parkhurstwhich may be home to the Moths larvae.
Now the weather has warmed up, surveys are well underway but unfortunately we have yet to find any Moth larvae!
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