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.
Best wishes
Hazel in Southwest France
I look forward to the photos
Cin J
Hi, Tuesday night looked set fair so I set up the trap underneath the table again (just in case) but in the end it stayed fine,
the contraption on the table is to stop water dripping down the parasol hole!
To go back a few days I set it all up & had to run out out at midnight to save it & in the morning I found a dead moth inside. I'm not sure what happened, perhaps a spider got it, but it was the only one there. It was a shame as I've never seen one alive, a Willowherb hawkmoth,
We also had this pretty little moth in the garden, no common name, a Chrsocrambus craterella,
However to move onto the trap, there were 51 moths with 36 species & 18 new one's including a few unidentified one's, but these are the best, a Pale Oak Beauty,
a Small Waved Umber,
a Riband wave,
a Dwarf Cream Wave,
I think this is a Lackey moth but not 100%,
a Scarce Blackneck,
another doubtful name, a Common Wainscot (I think),
& a (possible) Cloaked minor,
an L-Album Wainscot,
a Kent Black Arches, my favourite of the night,
& then onto the small & micro moths which often don't have common names, an Endotricha flammealis
a Pediasia contaminella,
a Rush Veneer,
a Long-legged China-mark
an unknown micro moth, I thought it's markings were quite striking, but I can't find it anywhere!!
a Hedya ochroleucana
a possible Celypha cespitana,
& to finish, under a tile, a spider caught red-handed eating a grub, & the spider was being eaten by a mite. Dog eat dog!!
I thought my new lens worked really well, but I've got to keep practising I think. I hope you're still enjoying these & not getting too bored.
Another lovely set, Hazel. I'm a sucker for the more flamboyant moths so the Willowherb Hawkmoth is my favourite even if it was dead. A pity that.
It's baking hot here (for a change), I have to keep retreating from the gardening to cool off. I suspect it would be a good night for mothing - if I did it.
The new lens looks like it's working well. I've got the Canon equivalent. I've found that you need to have a high F-stop (as you have) otherwise it's easy to get parts of the subject out of focus.
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Tony
My Flickr Photostream
Thanks TJ, what I really need to do is get a nice easy subject & try varying all the settings. They were almost all taken with the flash which I need to fiddle with too. It's 30°C here & I'm tempted to put the trap out again tonight, maybe, it took a couple of days on & off to get that lot sorted.
Great update and photos Hazel, the colours and variations are interesting, hard to choose a favourite it would be between the Kent Black Arches and the Willowherb Hawkmoth.
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Regards, Hazel
Thanks Hazy, I tend to pick a favourite & then keep changing my mind!! They are all favourites really!!
Hi Hazel. Yet another fantastic selection of Moths from you and all cracking photos, like Hazy I'm finding it hard to pick a favourite. For some reason I can't read any of the exif data on your photos so I can't see what type your new lens is. If it can take photos of the Scottish Midge you'd have a bonanza up here at the moment, I've been getting eaten alive over the past few nights out in the garden.!!
Paul
My bird photos HERE
Thanks Paul, I've got a Nikon D90 & used to use a Tamron 18/200 but the new lens is a 105mm 2.8GED. I'm amazed at the detail now on the micro moths, it makes a huge difference. I can't read any exif data!!
Hazel, as you are so interested in moths you should take a look at this blog from Howard Vaughan at Rainham Marshes.
www.rspb.org.uk/.../hella-norse-goddess-of-the-dead-a-journey.aspx
Thanks for that TJ, absolutely fascinating, I've always wanted to do something like that. The caterpillar was very impressive too. I've seen either........yet!