My Moths

We are doing a moth survey from of our garden this year for a study in the département, but while waiting for the moth traps to arrive I've been leaving an outside light on & photographing all the visitors. Since then I decided to start the "sugar trap". I cooked up a litre of cheap wine & 1 Kg of sugar & put 2 natural ropes in the mixture & left to soak for a few days.

Then last night I suspended the ropes between 2 trees in the orchard (photo taken this morning)

Then while Ron was watching the Golf on TV, I was nipping in & out to see if there were any moths having a tipple. The first time I went out there were 2 who stayed until I went to bed & were gone at 5am when I went out to see if there were any more. I was really chuffed as I didn't think I'd get much.

This is a Herald :

.

This is Angle Shades

 

You can see they are both eating, I only hope they didn't have a hangover this morning!! I've left the ropes out so maybe I'll get something else tonight.

Parents
  • Probably me Hazel, sounds nice lol,those moths are pretty, very 'leaf like'

    Terry

  • Lovely Moths Hazel and a great way to draw them in, very clever.!! I'm with Terry as well though, put my name down for a yard of your delicious rope.!!

    Paul

  • Think I'll leave the cheap wine and sugar to the men!!!!

    This promises to be a really interesting thread Hazel - I wouldn't be able to identify a single moth I don't think but am intrigued to see what will turn up on your rope.m Keep updating us!

  • Thanks for the interest folks. The following night there were none & I started to worry that I should have resoaked the rope, but it still tasted nice (only a little finger touch honest!). So I left it out again & got 2 more.This is a Setaceous Hebrew Character (I love their names)

    & a White Streak (I think, it needs verifying by the expert)

    Then last night I had 3, dear old Angle shades who was back for another slurp,

    a Knot grass, which I've had numerous times as a caterpillar but never seen the moth, which would hide very well on a tree trunk,

    & a Bright-line Brown-eye (great name again)

     which doesn't want to load!! Will try later.

    I hope you enjoy these too!

  • Great photo's Hazel, love the names, think I'll come back as a moth in the Gironde estuary Lol

    Terry

  • Thanks Terry.

    I still can't upload that last moth, not sure why.

    EDIT : This is the Bright-line Brown-eye moth which wouldn't load, I then reduced the name of the photo by half & it loaded fine. That's weird!!

  • Another new one last night, & this time it was new for our region! Fame at last!

    It's called a "Figure of Eighty" which comes from the squiggle on the wings.

  • Well done on your Figure of Eighty!  You will have everyone descending on you if you're not careful!  Great to see how many different species you're getting.

  • Hi Hazel. I spotted your update on the phone yesterday but couldn't see any of the photos, now that I'm on the PC I can see them all and I have to say that they are just fantastic.!! I've always fancied doing the thing with the white sheet and a bright light but I have to admit that your technique with the rope, the wine and the sugar looks to be a more interesting way of going about this. The only problem that I can foresee is that I may not be in such a great state of consciousness to actually take any photos after the initial rope preparations have been carried out.!! I suppose it could be worth a try though....for the sake of science you understand.!!

    Paul

Reply
  • Hi Hazel. I spotted your update on the phone yesterday but couldn't see any of the photos, now that I'm on the PC I can see them all and I have to say that they are just fantastic.!! I've always fancied doing the thing with the white sheet and a bright light but I have to admit that your technique with the rope, the wine and the sugar looks to be a more interesting way of going about this. The only problem that I can foresee is that I may not be in such a great state of consciousness to actually take any photos after the initial rope preparations have been carried out.!! I suppose it could be worth a try though....for the sake of science you understand.!!

    Paul

Children