JUST what are Lepidoptera? The word, taken almost unchanged from the Greek, means - in literal translation - 'Scale-wing'.

In reality, it is the huge army of butterflies and moths, which in this locality this year has apparently suffered great loss.

The butterflies recorded about our two buddleias, the sprawl of jasmine, lavender, and the huge untidy honeysuckle sprawl have been negligible.

Shrub and bush were planted deliberately to attract butterflies by day and moths by night.

This year, they attracted few of either.

Moths seen have been almost nil, while the butterflies to date have been limited this year to comparatively few, including Tortoiseshell, Red Admiral, Peacock, Cabbage White, Small Whites, and Wall Brown.

Looking back and comparing earlier records with those of 2001, we are horrified at the species loss.

These include such glorious moths as the well-named ' Burnished Brass', the strange plume moth, with wings like tiny, outspread fingers, and the beautiful Elephant hawks (usually found more as great fat caterpillars among the willowherbs rather than as the night-flying adult).

All are becoming rarities.

The butterflies we appear to have lost include these: the Brimstone which flies very early in the spring; the darting, nervous Skippers of high summer; and the occasional scallop-winged Comma, working a way north over the past few years.

It is still scarce enough to warrant excited record when it appears about this locality.

Of the larger moths, the Hawks seem decidedly scarce - the two species most often recorded as visitors here being the Eyed Hawk and the Poplar.

The number and variety of night-flying moths has been drastically reduced, and the day fliers seem to have gone altogether.

One, however, still persists.

In our tangled front hedge - which holds at least five species of well-established bushes - we have a solitary and usually very fruitful gooseberry bush.

Every year that I can remember, it plays host to the Magpie moths.

These caterpillars exfoliate the bushes in part, but often enough we manage to save a reasonable amount of berries for a pie or two.

The invader is the Magpie moth, but this year, we found this lovely moth on one of the house windows.

Of course, I know that the Magpie moth is an agricultural pest - but I think the loss of a few gooseberry leaves is worth it.

Though each adult moth of this species is limited to a pattern in yellow, black and white, each and every individual bears a different design of this colour combination.

Would that I had recorded these annually on colour film! No doubt our more pragmatic neighbours think us balmy.

Who could destroy it?

We marvel at such brief beauty every year.