Nine-spotted moth in Switzerland

© Thomas Marent/Minden Picture

The moth wonderful time of the year

You're forgiven if this is the first you're hearing of National Moth Week, even though it's been going strong for 8 years as a global call to learn about and observe the fuzzy little insects. All too often dismissed as pesky, drab counterparts to our brightly fluttering friends the butterflies, moths seem to hog every light but the spotlight. But they don't need flashy marketing to win the numbers game: With an estimated 160,000 moth species (though some estimates go up to half a million), they vastly outnumber their swaggering butterfly cousins in the Lepidoptera order.