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
Wow, Edge, that's a fantastic collection, lots of different groups too. It a clever way to present them. I love the long-antenna one, superb.
Paul, thanks for the meaning of hoary, I didn't think of looking it up!! Silly me! I thought it was a made up word!
Hi, I'm back again after a fair few hours spent idnetifying the last lot from last friday night. Out of 87 moths there were at least 43 species & 12 were new for the year. I'm over 150 species so far this year. Far better than i expected really. These are the best of the new ones.
A Buff Footman, quite rare around here so I hope it's right,
& a Four spotted Footman, that's 4 different footmans in 2 weeks, they must all come out at once,
a Micro-moth, Chrysocrambus linetella, similar to one we've had recently but I think it's the alternative, (it's come out the wrong way up!!)
& an unknown micro moth,
another small one which could be Eudonia mercurella,
a Magpie moth, which wouldn't sit still,
& an Isle of Wight Wave (I think), which also wouldn't sit still, but it's again quite rare around here,
a pretty Treble Brown Spot,
a Least Carpet,
a Lesser Yellow Underwing, which is very common but only just hatched as they are the first this year,
a Tawny Prominent moth, which I thought I'd had at the end of April but it turned out to be something else, you just can't trust these moths!
& finally another unusual one, a Pebble Prominent,
Thanks for looking,
You're having a fantastic time of it Hazel, your photos are all cracking and I think with this set my leaning is towards the Four-spotted Footman as a favourite, although the Treble Brown Spot and the Least Carpet are up there too.
Great set as well ,Edge, like Hazel, I think the one with the long-antenna is a real cracker.
Paul
My bird photos HERE
Thanks for the kind comments Paul. I'm having such fun I don't get time to post anymore!! In fact I've got a lot on my plate at the moment, however these are some of the best new moths from the 26th June,
This is a brown tail moth & I had to go & take more photos as I realised I couldn't see it's b*m in the earlier photos!
A huge Light crimson Underwing,
A Sycamore moth,
a Dusky Sallow,
a Campion, perhaps my favourite,
What I think may be a Radfords Flame Shoulder,
a lovely Elephant Hawkmoth that I managed to get one shot of as it flew off,
& a few pretty micro moths
a Gold Triangle,
Thanks for looking.
It just gets better and better Hazel. More stunning photos with every one being a lovely specimen. Admittedly the Campion is a stunner but the Radford’s Flame Shoulder and the Light Crimson Underwing are contenders for the favourite title this time.
It just amazes me how many different species of moth there are! You have certainly changed my opinion of moths! I had never taken much notice of them before and had them all lumped together as "brown buzz bombs", but you have really opened my eyes to them and made me aware of all the pretty markings and huge variety! Bet you're really busy with it this time of year.
See my Flickr photos here
https://www.flickr.com/photos/115745582@N04/
Thanks for your comments. Yes is your answer Christine, it's taken over my life a bit. The big moths are ok but the mico moths keep me going most evenings until I do the next trap, which is once a week. If I really can't find them, I have to send them off as unidentified, but I hate to admit defeat!
I had an amazing number of moths last week in the trap, 155 in total, 67 species with 20 new ones. I can't believe how well it's all going. It's interesting how you get a massive influx of one group & then get loads of another, this week the were around 50 'footman' moths of different types, these are the best of the new one's for those who are following this, a new footman, a Rosy footman,
a Catopria falsella,
another small one, Evergestis extimalis,
a beautiful Peppered moth,
a Small Fan-footed Wave,
A Sharp-angled Peacock,
a Marbled White Spot
a Coronet
Dark Arches,
Dun-bar,
Common Rustic,
Guernsey Underwing,
Thistle Ermine EDIT I've just realised this isn't a Thistle Ermine but a member of the Yponomeutidae family (sorry) 21/7
& a few micro-moths,
a Garden Rose Tortrix,
another tiddler,
& finally a small moth that is part of a big family & I identified by accident after hours of hunting, so I guess it's my favourite of the day, Apaidea mesogona,
Brilliant specimens HinGE, needless to say I favour the Thistle Ermine & Rosy Footman but they all have beauty!!
2013 photos & vids here
eff37 on Flickr
Another great selection Hazel, it still amazes me just how many different moths are out there. I think I agree with Wendy about the Thistle Ermine (which is a stunner) and the Rosy Footman being close to the top of this particular batch. All great photos by the way.