The Macro-moths of Warwickshire: A 2026 Review

by David CG Brown. Foreword by Mark Hammond.

A book to celebrate exactly 20 years since the publication of The Larger Moths of Warwickshire in 2006, during which time many species have dramatically changed status. This review concentrates on moth species which have displayed significant changes in distribution and abundance throughout this period. Over 40 new species have been added to the county list, and detailed records are provided, in addition to updated records of uncommon and immigrant species. The book concludes with a classified checklist of all species recorded in Warwickshire since Victorian times, giving current status, followed by an appendix containing distribution maps showing records since 2006.

"The author is to be congratulated for producing an update only 20 years on from his previous volume, since to contemplate revisiting such a huge task takes considerable fortitude. It is to be hoped it might be an inspiration to other county moth recorders." - Stella Beavan, Entomologist's Record and Journal of Variation 138 (2026)

"The typesetting and layout of this book are extremely impressive, and it is a pleasure to consult." - Stella Beavan, Entomologist's Record and Journal of Variation 138 (2026)

REVIEWS

Entomologist's Record and Journal of Variation 138 (2026) by Stella Beavan

This book aims to update The Larger Moths of Warwickshire by the same author after a passage of 20 years and is a review of the changes to the recorded macro-moth population within this centrally situated county.

The stated aim is amply fulfilled with separate sections on new species, species with significant increases, species with significant declines, and immigrant species. Within these sections, each species has a short account which gives the flight period and the food plants before continuing with a paragraph on the national situation followed by that in Warwickshire and finally the detail of the Warwickshire records. The vast majority of species are illustrated and the new records clearly set out, usually in tables, with the recorders named.

The section of updated records of very local and uncommon/scarce species (defined as those occurring in fewer than ten 10 km squares in vice-county 38) is not illustrated and just gives the details of the new records.

There is a complete tabulated checklist of the macro-moths of the county with their clearly defined status and frequency, set out.

Appendix I comprises updated distribution maps of the new and significantly increasing or declining species. These maps show the records between 2006 and 2025 inclusive only, and I would have liked to see the previous records indicated, with a different symbol, so the geographic change could be seen. Confusingly, this appendix also has a second section with maps of very local, local and fairly widespread species. Further appendices give a plant list and lists of the recorders and photographers featured.

A section on county lepidopterists who have passed away since 2006 makes for emotive reading and is a thoughtful and appropriate way in which to remember those who have contributed so much in the past and who might otherwise be forgotten in the mists of time.

The typesetting and layout of this book are extremely impressive, and it is a pleasure to consult. The text is set in two columns and is well spaced and clear to read with a sensible use of bold text. The majority of the photographs are of good quality.

The author is to be congratulated for producing an update only 20 years on from his previous volume, since to contemplate revisiting such a huge task takes considerable fortitude. It is to be hoped it might be an inspiration to other county moth recorders.