\n The UK\u2019s largest resident species of moth has been spotted at a nature reserve.\n<\/p>\n
\n Volunteers from the Benfield Wildlife and Conservation Group in Hove were shocked to find a privet hawkmoth while litter picking.\n<\/p>\n
\n Chairwoman of the conservation group Sally Wadsworth said: “Some of the team found it in the bushes and it looked as though it had just hatched out.”\n<\/p>\n
\n The volunteers were litter picking and taking care of areas that needed chopping back when they found the “chunky moth”.\n<\/p>\n
\n While the privet moth is a common species, Sally said they are not spotted often.\n<\/p>\n
\n “They are really striking to see,” she said.\n<\/p>\n
\n The moth, which has a large wingspan of up to 12cm, is often identified by its pink and black striped abdomen and flies between the months of June and July.\n<\/p>\n
\n It was sighted alongside a male and female common lizard who were sunbathing together.\n<\/p>\n
\n Privet moth on a stick of privet. (Image: Sally Wadsworth)\n<\/p>\n
\n Benfield Hill Nature Reserve contains several shrubs of the flowering plant privet, which Sally believes the moths were feeding on.\n<\/p>\n
\n The Benfield Wildlife and Conservation Group is known to routinely visit the site to partake in clean-ups to ensure the park’s upkeep for visitors.\n<\/p>\n
\n Currently, the reserve houses “hundreds” of common spotted orchids and wildflowers “showing at their best”.\n<\/p>\n
\n These plants often attract butterflies to the reserve including the blue bottle, the common blue and the painted lady.\n<\/p>\n
\n “(There is) loads and loads of stuff to see,” said Sally.\n<\/p>\n
\n Sally has been a member of the Benfield Wildlife and Conservation Group since 2014 and became chairwoman in 2021.\n<\/p>\n
\n She said the reserve is her passion and that it is a “truly fantastic place”.\n<\/p>\n
\n It is made up of a chalky hillside and is located in the South Downs National Park.\n<\/p>\n
\n “We want to preserve it for future generations,” said Sally.\n<\/p>\n
\n The reserve has recently been visited by a year five class from Benfield Primary School.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Children and young people are the future,” Sally said and expressed the importance of getting the younger generation involved in wildlife conservation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UK\u2019s largest resident species of moth has been spotted at a nature reserve. Volunteers from the Benfield…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":683100,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":["post-683099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=683099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/683100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=683099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=683099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=683099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}