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
Love the Crambus pascuella, very art deco in shape and colour
Caroline in Jersey
Cin J
Thanks all, it's great fun doing the moth trap. We don't want to be away too long so the holiday is a whistle-stop tour of relatives, timed to the minute. However we've 2 nights camping in the woods near Marlborough with the evenings free so we may get a bit of birdwatching done too.
Hi Hazel. I'm just catcing up with this thread and WOW, loads of beautiful Moths here. It would be impossible to pick a favourite although I have to say the Buff Tip and the Coxcomb Prominent are especially beautiful with their superb camouflage. Just wonderful.!!
Paul
My bird photos HERE
Thanks Paul, I'm afraid some of their camouflage is too good for me. Despite thorough checking, when I went out later in the morning to pick up the sheet, another 2 flew off! Ah well, next time!
We'd just got back from holiday last week & I decided to put the trap out. The forecast was for a clear night. Then aroung half past midnight I was woken put an enormous clap of thunder. I opened the shutters & it was just starting to rain. My mind was full of the poor moths either grilled or drowned, so I rushed out with jeans & sweatshirt, wellies & coat going on in seconds. I managed to transfer it all the garage & go back & pick up the moths sat on the sheet & put them under a tree before it threw down the rain. Phew, that was close. I decided with the weather being a bit unsettled that the next time I would sort out a cover for the trap. So 2 days ago I borrowed a big plastic picnic table from the neighbours & attached a sheet of plastic over the top to cover the parasol hole, & set up the trap underneath it. Again, despite a good forecast, there was a light shower in the middle of the night, but the moths were all there in the morning. Over 50 moths, half outside, half inside. Most of yesterday was spent sorting out the species, with over 20 different moths & at least 6 new for the year plus a few unknowns for Antoine Guyonnet (Papillons de Poitou Charentes) "the boss".
These are the pick of them, a Garden Tiger which is really red when it flys
This is, I think, a scoparia pyralella, but may be unable to be confirmed except by examination of its gentilia (which I don't do), we had 5 of them,
A Light Brocade, which again, needs to be confirmed,
& the same from the top view, there were 5 of these too,
Top & side views of an Orache Moth,
a huge Privet Hawkmoth with my homemade measure showing it at over 5cm long,
& another Poplar Hawkmoth, sprawled out on the eggbox,
& finally, what keeps me interested, a photo of an egg tray as I turned over, with all the moths hidden, a real treasure, it's like Xmas & opening all the presents, except I'm in the garden or garage at 5h45 & it's a bit chilly!
Thanks for your interest!
Just realised I'd forgottn one, this is Delicate, a sweet name for a biggish moth,
Wow, I think that's my favourite selection based on looks!
Gus
Blog Flickr and I have a youtube channel but not updated much.
Terrific update, Hazel. Above and beyond the call of duty to rescue these guys in the middle of the night.
The Garden Tiger is a really colourful chap but those Hawk Moths are something else.
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Tony
My Flickr Photostream
Great update Hazel, you certainly rescued those moths from the rain storm, well done; the photos are beautiful with another set of amazing varieties, you have really opened my eyes and mind to the amount of different Moths that there are.
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Regards, Hazel
I must admit that I don't like storms & the thunder & lightening was crashing around, but all I could think about was getting the trap disconnected from the electricity & getting the moths out of the storm, after all, it was my fault they were hanging around outside instead sheltering under a leaf!!
Glad you like them.
Another great update Hazel. Well done with the rescue mission, I'd have done the same. They're all lovely but I really like the Orache Moth and also the Delicate.