Fisher’s Estuarine Moth Breeding Programme

Background

The Fisher’s estuarine moth is a rare and highly threatened species. The main stronghold of the species centred on a remote island in Essex located in the Walton Backwaters, called Skipper’s Island, which is part of Hamford Water National nature reserve. Sadly, a seawall breach in 2020 has meant that approximately 70% of suitable habitat on the island has been lost to rising sea levels. Over the last 20+ years, a collaborate project has been underway to create new habitat for the moth’s larvae to feed on, with Hog’s fennel planted across numerous sites in north Essex, as part of a landscape-wide conservation approach.

Achievements and Objectives

Colchester Zoo began working on this programme in 2008, setting up a captive breeding and release programme, with egg batches produced at the zoo released into newly created habitat sites to ensure the long-term survival of this species. As of 2024, the majority of the 35 plots have now been colonised, and the captive breeding programme was paused, having achieved its objective to provide moths for release into new habitat.

Colchester Zoo, however, continues its involvement with the project by annually monitoring Hog’s fennel plant condition, scrub encroachment, larval feeding signs and adult moth counts at two of the newly created sites; Cudmore Grove and Copt Hall, to help monitor the establishment of the moth at these sites.

In addition, Colchester Zoo’s Zoological Director and Team Leader of Reptile Section sit on the Fisher’s Estuarine Moth Steering Group with partners from the Essex Wildlife Trust, Natural England, Environment Agency, Tendring District Council, Butterfly Conservation and the National Trust to continue to work to safeguard the future of this species.

This project is a fantastic indicator of the success of an invertebrate breed and release programme, working in collaboration with various conservation organisations to increase the population size of this species.