• Menu
  • Skip to right header navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

channel island pollinator project logo

Wild insect pollinator conservation

  • Pollinators & Pollination
    • What are Pollinators?
    • Why Care About Pollinators?
    • Meet the Pollinators
    • Threats to Pollinators
  • How to Help
    • Flower to the People
    • Plants for Pollinators
    • Green Roofs
    • Map Your Pollinator Friendly Area
    • Pollinator Friendly Areas Map
    • Bee Hotels
    • Bug Hotels
    • Pollinator Monitoring
  • Latest News
  • Contact
  • About
  • Resources
    • Downloads
    • Useful Links
    • Recommended Books About Pollinators
    • Recommended Wildlife Gardening Books
  • Pollinators & Pollination
    • What are Pollinators?
    • Why Care About Pollinators?
    • Meet the Pollinators
    • Threats to Pollinators
  • How to Help
    • Flower to the People
    • Plants for Pollinators
    • Green Roofs
    • Map Your Pollinator Friendly Area
    • Pollinator Friendly Areas Map
    • Bee Hotels
    • Bug Hotels
    • Pollinator Monitoring
  • Latest News
  • Contact
  • About
  • Resources
    • Downloads
    • Useful Links
    • Recommended Books About Pollinators
    • Recommended Wildlife Gardening Books
wildflower meadow at The Elms, St Mary, Jersey

Butterflies & Moths

08/01/2020 //  by Tim Ransom

Another well known group of pollinators are the butterflies and moths with especially the former group being very much associated with feeding on flowers and so it is the butterflies that most people think of when thinking of pollination.

And while this is totally understandable and true many moth species are also very important when it comes to pollination of flowers.

Butterflies feed on the sugary-rich nectar that flowers produce and during this feeding they get pollen attached to them and this is transferred to another flower they visit to feed on.

They do not carry as much pollen as bees, wasps or hoverflies but due to their very long tongues they are very effective at pollinating flowers that have deep flowers.

Large Skipper butterfly (Ochlodes sylvanus)
Large Skipper butterfly (Ochlodes sylvanus).
© Tim Ransom

Moths are not usually associated with pollination but in fact many are very important to this.

There are day-flying moths such as the Jersey Tiger Moth (Euplagia quadripunctaria) but there is also the ‘pollinator night shift’ when moths visit flowers that stay open overnight and do not close their petals. Of course the latter is not so well known as, let’s be honest, how many of us go out at night to see which flowers the moths are feeding on!

Most moths may not carry much pollen from one flower to another but they still contribute significantly especially as they are one of the few insects to pollinate at night time.

Jersey Tiger moth (Euplagia quadripunctaria)
Jersey Tiger moth (Euplagia quadripunctaria).
© Tim Ransom

More content about Butterflies & Moths:

Peacock butterfly Aglais io – Species spotlight
Food for caterpillars

Click the links below to learn more about the other main groups of insect pollinators:

Bees
Wasps
Hoverflies
Other Insects

More content from this category:
Sulphur Beetle (Cteniopus sulphureus)

Other Insects

Female Spring Colletes Bee (Colletes cunicularius) inside her nest on sand dunes

Bees

Hoverfly hovering (Epistrophe grossulariae)

Hoverflies

Solitary Wasp - Dinetus pictus

Wasps

Primary Sidebar

Follow Us On Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Latest from the Blog

Wild About Pollinators event

Wild About Pollinators Event

08/06/2022

bugs matter splatometer

Insect decline seen in UK ‘bug splat’ data

05/05/2022

wildflower meadow at The Elms, St Mary, Jersey

Reversing the Decline of Insects

09/07/2020

Peacock butterfly

Virtual Talks, Lessons & Workshops

18/06/2020

Bumblebee Bombus terrestris terrestris

Bumblebees Force Plants to Flower Early by Damaging Their Leaves

21/05/2020

Site Footer

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Website Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookies Policy

Copyright © 2023