Sharing the results from my latest Moth Trap Session. I have written posts about setting up a moth trap and on collecting the results if you want some more background info on how and why I use a Moth Trap
Date: 20th May 2022
Weather:
Its been almost a week since the last Trapping Session... I hadn't planned to trap this weekend, as we are heading up to Scotland in a couple of days and I will be trapping every night there...but I just couldn't help myself!
I wanted to trap last night as the conditions were warmer and better, but I had to get up at 6am for work. In the end I decided to go for tonight, and honestly I almost wish I hadn't bothered as it is chuffing freezing out there. Its been cool all day and with the bit of rain at 5pm/6pm, the temperatures dropped right off. Not helped by the strong wind either
But as they say, "you've got to be in it to win it"... and there is always a chance of getting something interesting so here we go
Location of tonight's trap, located closer to the house than normal, as I'm not expecting huge amounts of moths tonight! The bowl of water on the right is for the resident hedgehog, who I haven't see for a couple of weeks... I hope its ok
Results: 10 moths of 7 species
Summary of Results:
And that table speaks for itself... numbers are significantly lower than expected for the time of year, and the cause of that is mostly the wind. Moths prefer warm and humid, but they don't mind cold and dry. What they really don't like is strong winds, presumably as its harder to fly in. Last night they would have been hunkered down sheltering.
This reflects in the species caught, the only small moth was the Light Brown Apple Moth. All the others are members of the Noctuidae family which are known to be more robust and are strong fliers
Below are a selection from that family
Treble Lines - Charanyca trigrammica
Heart & Dart - Agrotis exclamationis
Turnip Moth - Agrotis segetum
And that was that. The Turnip Moth was at least NFY (New For Year), other than that it was quite a slow evening... at 1:00 AM I gave up and turned everything off.
Bonus pictures for this week:
Ophion minutus
The bonus this week was this small Ichneumon wasp - There are several similar looking species in this group, but this one is relatively easy to identify as it is significantly smaller than the rest (literally only half the size) hence the name minutus.
Right you know what, I can do better than this, I'm on holiday, and the weather is looking 'better' tonight (ie less windy!). I think I'm gonna trap again and try and get some more interesting Moths!
Wish me luck!
[hopefully tomorrow I will have something more interesting to write about! 😅]
Notes on Pictures: Since I started moth trapping 5 years ago, I have been slowly building up collection of Library Images. The idea being that once I have taken a picture of a particular species of Moth, I don't need another picture of the same species a year later. It’s a waste of time and energy. I only take pictures of new species, or of moths that are difficult to ID, so I can get the records verified.
While in my care, all individuals are looked after, and after Photographs have been taken, they are all released safely outside.
All names confirmed and checked via Wikispieces
Further Research from UK Moths and NatureSpot
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Check out my website for more of my work.
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