Launch of national moth head count at ZSL London Zoo

© ZSL

This scheme, run by Butterfly Conservation and funded by a £806,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, will enlist thousands of volunteers over the next four years to become ‘citizen scientists’ in recording the moth population in the UK, the largest such moth project anywhere in the world.

Sir David will be joined by school children when he opens a moth trap set up overnight at the Zoo’s Woodland Walk, a canal side area dedicated to providing an urban refuge for Britain’s native wildlife.

Britain’s moths have been declining over the past four decades. Moths are very sensitive to environments, providing insights into the health of all sorts of plants, birds and mammals. Their loss directly threatens numerous species of birds, bats and small animals, which feed on them.