On Wednesday night we put out our moth trap at the Mull of Galloway, a simple contraption for those not familiar with this type of survey work, basically it’s a box with a light bulb that attracts moths who then settle down inside the box until we record them then set them free unharmed.
With a cool stiff breeze, clear sky and a full moon it possibly wasn’t the best night to attract moths but we figured we would give it a go anyway.
All in we attracted 11 moths from three different species, four marbled coronets, four dark sword grass and a single chamomile shark.
Marbled coronet
Chamomile shark
We also put out a few small mammal traps to try get a better understanding of what small furry creatures may be lurking around at night. Out of the five traps we put out we got one bank vole, an important food source for the kestrels that are often seen flying around the reserve.