Thursday 3rd March 2022.
John Langmaid.
It was sad that we have lost not only a great moth expert, but a lovely friend. John Langmaid was indeed a very well respected moth expert who resided near where I live in Southsea. On a personal level, I would regularly be in awe at his expertise on micro moths and when I could not identify a catch within my moth box, I would go around Johns house where he would either take a bundle of tubes containing micro moths for him to identify or I would leave them on his doorstep and that day, he would send me an email with the identification of the moths.
John had reached the grand old age of 87 on his passing (would of been 88 in May) and despite getting a few short illnesses over the years, he was very sprightly for his age and his I believe his love for moths and wildlife (there were plenty of bird feeders in his garden) probably kept him going after he retired as a NHS Doctor many years before. John had built up a colossal collection of trays of moths of which he told me were going to the British Natural History Museum as requested in his Will. I, personally, was always fascinated by how quickly he could remember the name of the moth and always in Latin too as he had a loathing of the vernacular name for moths.
He would invite me upstairs to his study where he would put one of my moths, after being sedated, under the microscope and within seconds, he would have the ID or if not, would check with his own personal collection. There was no quibbling or guessing for he would ask me to leave the moth behind for a proper analysis. I was always excited to have a new moth for my life list, which, over the many years since ‘moth-ing’ , has grown steadily with John's expert knowledge.
I do not know much about John's personal life and so I shall not second guess; but the 'Moth-ing' world will now be a sadder place without him. Rest in Peace John and thank you.
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