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
As I mentioned in the last couple of posts, I have very recently come back from holiday near the Lake District. We had a great time, and saw lots of cool stuff, but one of the best bits was that I took my Moth Trap on holiday with me. The main idea behind this is that due to it being a different location on the other side of the country it has a different habitat and that means a chance of seeing different species to what I would find back home.
Date: 8th June 2021
Weather:
It is a bit cooler here, as we are approximately 100miles further North, but even so it was still relatively warm all day with highs of 22C. Overnight lows of 14C is good, and with light cloud cover and no wind at all I was optimistic of seeing plenty of moths
Results: 28 moths of 17 species
Summary of Results:
And as you can see here, there was plenty to see! Darkness fell about 9:30pm, and initially it was very slow with just a couple of micro moths and a brimstone. It continued this way for the next 3 hours, with one or two moths appearing, and then at 12:30am chaos ensued! Moths were whizzing all over the place, and I was struggling to keep up with all of them.
Flame Carpet - Xanthorhoe designata
Brimstone - Opisthograptis luteolata
Clouded Silver - Lomographa temerata
I chose to turn the trap off at 1:30am because we had a busy day ahead of us, but just as I was about to do that I was rewarded with 2 'lifers' (species new to me).
The first was an Alder Moth, which is fairly common, but I had never seen one at home, and the other was a Small Elephant Hawkmoth, which is much harder to find and absolutely gorgeous!
Alder Moth -Acronicta alni
Small Elephant Hawkmoth - Deilephila porcellus
Small Elephant Hawkmoth - Deilephila porcellus
Just look at the colours on that and tell me Moths are brown and boring!
Bonus pictures for this week:
False-blister Beetle - Oedemera femoralis
The bonus for this session was this striking looking beetle - Oedemera femoralis. I had never seen this species before, and it is always exciting to find something new!
So after a slow start it was a productive session, the stars were of course the 2 new moths: Alder Moth and Small Elephant Hawkmoth. Tomorrow I will light up again, and who knows what I could get this time.... stay tuned for part 2!
Notes on Pictures: Since I started moth trapping 4 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
If you have any thoughts or opinions on this article then I'd love to see your comments.
And if you really like the content then maybe you would like to upvote or re-hive it.
Check out my website for more of my work.
The color on the elephant moth! Very cool!
There are some stunning moths out there, and most of them fly around at night so not many people know about them.
Check out this Cecropia moth (Hyalophora cecropia) which is one of the largest moths in the USA, absolutely gorgeous!
Not my Image - Image sourced from flickr
OH! It is just lovely!
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