It’s September and that means it’s time for the Bogong Moths to make their way back to the Snowy Mountains for their summer snooze or estivation
Estivation: A dormant state where the metabolism slows generally in response to hot and dry conditions.
Their migration takes them through the Blue Mountains and down through the central west on a journey that’s being mapped and monitored by Zoo’s Victoria on their Moth Tracker Website. Moths are also being recorded by citizen scientists on iNaturalist as part of a wider science program to find out more about this endangered moth.
I had heard that the moths were on the way through the Blue Mountains after I found a couple of them hiding out in our garage. A quick check of our local invertebrates facebook page confirmed that they were on the wing so I decided to go out and do a bit more investigating.
We’re preparing for bush fire season right now so rather than leaving fallen leaves to compost in-situ I’m sending them off in the green bin for bulk up-cycling and then planting some shrubs in the hope of harnessing the soils microbiology before everything dries out. While doing that I managed to disturb some of the moths who were hidden under fallen leaves and branches. Not exactly what I wanted but as there are still lots of places in my garden for them to hide out I carried on with the job, albeit a little more carefully and slowly to give them time to re-group. I found the mother load of moths under some large dead timbers, our rockery stones and pavers next to the pond – sites that were serving as mini caves for these cool-climate creatures! It’s hard to know exactly how many are resting in my garden at the moment but I estimated between 10-100 (one of the options on the tracker site) not that you’d know it unless you went searching – they are very well camouflaged.
The situation that’s unfolding in my backyard has got me thinking again about the juxtaposition we find ourselves in with the environment right now – there’s so much ecological value in fallen timber and leaf litter yet in the wrong place at the wrong time it can contribute to devastating fire conditions, not just for humans but for seed banks, invertebrates and everything that comes from them. Life is often a question of balance and timing. I can only hope I’m getting that right in my little piece of Bogong moth migrationary pathway.
Wallace, Jesse & Maleszka, Ryszard & Warrant, Eric. (2022). Large-scale whole-genome sequencing of migratory Bogong moths Agrotis infusa reveals genetic variants associated with migratory direction in a panmictic population. 10.1101/2022.05.27.493801.
Mid Lachlan Landcare 
