Moths at Delamere (or Why I find Moths Uninteresting)

I'm interested in most things, but moths are apparently where I draw the line.  I don't like them.  Don't get me wrong though; I don't hate them either.  I'm indifferent to them, which is somehow worse.  It's not because moths are invertebrates or that they're not charismatic (because some are).  I just don't find them interesting.  Part of the problem is that there is a large group of moths that even the experts call SBMs (Small Brown Moths) that cannot be identified without microscopic examination of their genitalia.  One of the things that was discussed on the moth night at Delamere was the difference between micro moths (mainly SBMs) and macro moths, and of course the difference between moths and butterflies.  So, here is a brutally quick summary of what I learned:

• Butterflies have slender, filamentous feelers with clubs on the end.  Moths, on the other hand, have either feathery or comb-like feelers.  If the feelers are clubbed, they won't be filamentous.  Usually, anyway.
• There are a few technical morphological wing differences.  I tend to think of them being that butterflies look more hinged, whereas many moths look more like the wings are "back-triangles".  
• Butterflies are slender and sleek bodied.  Moths are sturdy and often a bit hairy or furry of body.
• Butterflies tend to be more colourful -- but not always.  Some day flying moths are really very colourful indeed, especially if they're toxic.  This chap below is a five-spot burnet moth (Zygaena lonicerae) that I saw on Lundy:

Pretty colourful for a moth, eh?  Apparently the French name for moth translates to "Butterflies of the Night".

Some moth traps were set out during the day and were of two types -- wine traps and actual traps.  Wine traps are pieces of string soaked in "nectar" comprised of molasses, brown sugar, honey and red wine.  These are then left in hedges or trees to attract the moths, to do their work, like so:

Apparently, this is a copper underwing moth on a wine trap.  I was lucky to get the picture as a lot of folks were shining torches at it, which sadly made many a moth leave the traps.

The other trap involves setting up a light rig and a moth maze made out of egg cartons.  The light pulls the moths in, which you can then scoop out to examine.  These traps are also excellent for catching craneflies!  However, these traps are not so practical to cart about as they require either a plug socket or a genny.  The chap giving us the demonstration mentioned how he'd actually had one of his generators stolen from a site too.

I hate to say it, but after seeing some of these chaps up close, some of the bigger, easier to identify moths are winning me over a bit, if only because the camouflage is top rate -- and no wonder, given they fill the ecological niche of pollinator and bat food.  However, I seriously doubt I'll ever get the urge to study SBMs.