All hail the Jersey tiger moth

Jersey tiger moths are found as far away as the Medierranean

The Jersey tiger-moth, with a wingspan of up to 52mm, is a common sight on the island during in the summer months.

With its colouring of cream stripes on a dark brown background, it flies at all times of the day and night.

One of the best places to see a tiger-moth is on a Buddleia flower, also known as the butterfly bush.

"It will look like a triangle of dark chocolate with cream stripes and has a red flash on its under-wing," said Jersey insect expert Roger Long.

In appearance, it differs from the garden tiger-moths found in the UK, which have bluish-black circular markings on a cream background.

"In the Victorian times, a great number of entomologists were travelling all over Britain, and to some extent all over Europe, finding new things," said Roger.

In the island of Rhodes in the eastern Mediterranean there is a valley called the red butterfly valley. Roger Long, Etymologist

"Some of them came over here and found this tiger-moth that was slightly different from the one that was common in England.

"Of course, I wasn't there, but I can imagine what they said - oh what is this tiger-moth, it is different from ours?"

Despite its fearsome sounding name, this glorious moth has no defence against other local fliers, making it a tasty snack for bats and birds.

"We set our moth traps, catching night-flying moths to look at them. Sometimes we can see the bats flying around these lights and we know we are going to have a very poor catch in the morning," said Roger.

Moth invasion

The Jersey tiger moth has a wingspan of between 42 - 52 mm

The Jersey variety is found from as far as south London to the Mediterranean and beyond. They are a spectacular sight in certain parts of the world.

"There are places where they come out in the emerging stage of their breeding cycle in vast numbers.

"Then they disperse to various parts of Europe. In the island of Rhodes in the eastern Mediterranean there is a valley called the red butterfly valley. These red butterflies are actually the Jersey tigers," said Roger.

With climate change almost certain to be a factor in the future experts predict the Jersey tiger-moth could spread further north in the UK.