The southern England-Wales border is home to a unique moth fauna, including a number of particularly scarce and enigmatic species. George Tordoff and Russel Hobson describe how innovative survey methods have helped to increase our understanding of these rare moths.
The southern part of the England–Wales border region is a landscape of contrasts, ranging from the shaded ancient lowland woodlands of the Wye Valley in the east to the exposed high moorland of the Brecon Beacons to the west. This diversity has perhaps contributed to forming the area’s unique moth fauna: species such as the Scarce Hook-tip Sabra harpagula, Silurian Eriopygodes imbecilla and Welsh Clearwing Synanthedon scoliaeformis are found almost exclusively in this region, or are known from few other parts of Britain.