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 very recently witnessed the opening of a Robinson trap and unfortunately did not have my camera with me so didn't get any pictures but I remember we had a Spectacled, a male and female Ghost Moths, White Line Brown Eye, and a something Pine something. Wonderful names! But no quite the amazing variety that you get Hazel!
Gus
Blog Flickr and I have a youtube channel but not updated much.
About five or six years ago neighbours across the road had a very large & rambling Fuschia bush in their garden & we found about four caterpillars of the Elephant Hawkmoth which subsequently fell to the ground to pupate (I presume) - always wished then that I'd had the courage to keep one in favourable conditions to see it transform! Never knowingly seen the moth around here though & unfortunately new neighbours moved in & dug up the bush!!
2013 photos & vids here
eff37 on Flickr
WendyBartter said:always wished then that I'd had the courage to keep one in favourable conditions to see it transform!
I expect you're like me and afraid to do the wrong thing & perhaps kill it!! I tend to leave them alone to do what comes naturally. It would be interesting to do though if you were sure about you're doing.
I did another trap on the 14th & had 72 moths with over 38 species (4 unidentified). There were 17 new for this year & these are the best of them,
A Ruby Tiger
A Hoary Footman (what an odd name, what's a Hoary?)
& a Common Footman
the biggest of the night was a Goat moth, not a great photo as it flew off as soon as the lid went up enough to get a shot,
a pretty micro-moth Chrysoteuchia culmella,
& another small one Scoparia basistrigalis (I think)
an early August Thorn, open,
closed,
a Plain Wave,
my favourite of the night a micro moth Eurodachtha pallicomella, it was sat on the end of a roof tile placed near the trap,
a Spotted Sulphur
a Passenger moth (where to)
Dark Sword-grass (I put the rule in to check it's size),
,
Light Arches
a Pale-shouldered Brocade
& finally a Lesser Broad-shouldered Yellow Underwing (I think),
& on a topical subject, for the football fans among you, it's good to have 2 teams "Allez les bleus"!
I have come to realise that I wouldn't hesitate to take it on now HinGE but that is several years down the line & the power of internet instruction & many wonderful wildlife programmes!
Love that Ruby Tiger, very striking & the Hoary Footman, when compared with the common one, it's wings do look as if touched with hoar frost!
Some of the eyes look a little strange to me for moths, remind me of fish eyes!
Hazel over time we've come to appreciate your excellent photography and ever since I've followed your posts your macro-photography of insects has really stood out - In addition to this I'm also impressed with your encyclopaedic knowledge of moths.. it's a learning curve but thanks to your photos I'm gradually improving - thanks for the illustrated guide!
This is a brilliant thread,Hazel.It`s re-sparked my interest in moths.Have spent a few nights sat on the steps next to my outside light & have had some lovely visitors.
p.s If the aussies don`t hand over`The Ashes`,I`m returning all their light brown apple moths - I have more than my fair share!
edgebander said:Have spent a few nights sat on the steps next to my outside light & have had some lovely visitors.
You'll have to try & get some shots Edge & put them on here! I find them very addictive. We had storms forecast for the next few nights so I did another trap last night. It'll take a day or so to sort them, but you can't beat the thrill when you go out (at 5h30 in the morning) to see what's there. I think that quite a lot of moths are destructive to somebody or something, but they are still lovely (in small doses)!
John : You give me too much credit, I'm learning on the job (as they say), the trouble is the more you find out, the more you find you need to know!!
Hi Hazel. Your photos just get better and better, the new lens is paying dividends with some cracking Moths there, although I’m still unable to pick a favourite. You’ve probably looked it up by now but if you haven’t, ‘hoary’ can mean greyish-white (as if with age).....seemingly.!!
Paul
My bird photos HERE
Thanks again,Hazel.Have a few captures from last couple of nights(and a couple from during the day)which has provided welcome relief from chasing an elusive G.Woodpecker.I`m an inveterate insomniac so a Song Thrush(kicking off everything else)had to persuade me to retire at first light.
I didnt use any lures but I think one or two were eyeing up my Rioja. P.s The nemophora was taken further away a little earlier but.....I love it so. :-)
Brilliant collection EB, all so delicately pretty!