Everyone loves colourful butterflies, and moths often seem to be the rather drab cousin – this, of course, is nonsense.

Only this week I was out and about at Longworth Clough, on the moors above Bolton, when I was introduced to a stunning clouded border. It black and white colouring does resemble black clouds surrounding and populating a white sky. It was my first encounter with this beautiful creature.

Now, in the Lives of Moths, I can meet up with some absolute stunners from across the globe with some wonderfully colourful text and astonishing pictures, written and gathered by the authors. Andrei is collections co-ordinator for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity at the Florida Museum of Natural History and Rachel is a renowned nature writer. The both worked on The Book of Caterpillars, so they have now progressed to wings.

This book captures their knowledge and passion for moths – “Being more ancient (110m years), moths have experienced and adapted to a far greater range of conditions and environments than butterflies and, thus, are more diverse in their morphologies and lifestyles.”

To put it bluntly moths are tougher than fragile butterflies, and display a massive range of difference colours and behaviours. Of course a lot of moths only come out at night but many are day flying, check out our beautiful burnet moths.

I cannot express what a pleasure reading this book inspires in me, every page has a strikingly colourful or terrifying image as we get face-to-face with moths and their caterpillars.

It is a global tour of an insect that often hides its colours, but when they display there are few more amazing insects in our windows, gardens and countryside.