Moth mania

The moon moth will be referred to in the sessions. Pic/Suraj Das

While butterflies are undoubtedly beautiful, they also tend to steal the limelight from their moth cousins. This is because moths operate during night-time, and hence remain largely inaccessible to the human eye. This is also why moths are often not studied extensively and remain undiscovered in many parts of the world. National Moth Week (July 17-25) aims to pull the focus back onto these creatures, working as a citizen-science initiative, to educate and make people and communities more aware of their different types, species and groups.

Light sheet used to attract moths

Today marks the first day of International Moth Week, and keeping the pandemic regulations in mind, wildlife book publisher Birdwing, has curated a weeklong series of events - sessions, webinars and workshops that talk about ‘mothing', rearing, identifying and studying these creatures.

Dr V Shubhalaxmi

"Because moths fly around at night-time, people aren't very aware of their existence. People are able to relate to butterflies more than moths because moths are elusive. This works as an awareness program where the whole week you have to keep observing moths and report them. Usually, moths are seen throughout the monsoon season, sometimes even beyond that," says Dr V Shubhalaxmi, founder of Birdwing.

Here are two of their workshops to tune into:

All About Moths, hosted by Dr V Shubhalaxmi
On: Today, 6 pm to 7 pm

Gardening for Moths, hosted by Isaac Kehimkar
On: July 22, 6 pm to 7 pm
Log on to: birdwingpublishers.com to register