Happy New Year all!
Same thread as before but a whole year of moth hunting ahead of us. You don't need lots of expensive equipement to set up light traps, a budget of around £20 should be enough, have a look on the old thread HERE or ask again, there is always (almost) someone who knows. Wendy is our surrogate mum & has a house & shed full of caterpillars & pupas & breeding adults!
The moths are still coming to feed on the rope in the garden. All you need is to dissolve 0,5Kg of sugar in 0,5 litres of wine, by gently heating up & stirring. Then pour the mixture into an old pan & put in a natural fibre rope or cord. (Don't put the ends in as it gets messy). Leave to soak a day & hang in the garden from a tree or bush or between posts. Then go back just after dark & see who's feeding. I tend to pop out about every half hour until bedtime. Then the fun starts as you try to get the camera settings right for the photos. The rope tends to work for about 3 days & then needs redipping during the day before the 4th night. Here are some "library pictures"
My rope is now a lot shorter as I only have 1 tree & just loop it from one low branch, it needs to be about 4ft from the ground. Here is one from 30 December, a Chestnut
Everone is welcome!
Best wishes
Hazel in Southwest France
Has worked fine H ... super envious of your December Moth, one I really wanted to see ''live' but no traps here for a while as some really dodgy weather! Wet again tonight! Grrrrrrrr
2013 photos & vids here
eff37 on Flickr
Yes last night was my "window" of opportunity, weather not too good here either.
Yep, the December moth does look a fine moth.
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Nige Flickr
Thanks Nigel, it's not a big moth but has lovely colours & markings & if you're doing a live trap they come hurtling in at speed quite early on & are very impressive.
" I found a batch of ten nocturnal moths on my lit window yesterday evening. They were about between 12 - 15mm wide. Any idea what they would be?"
Quote
This came from "Campfield Marsh" thread. I tried to reply but couldn't as i'm not a member of the group & couldn't find how. Another good reason to abandon this forum, but in the meantime if Alan could type my reply onto the relevant thread it would be great!
My reply :
"Im officially on stike over the state of the new forum however I can never resist a moth! This looks like Winter moth Operophtera brumata & it's a male as the females are flightless & sit on tree trunks waiting for a man to pass by! "
P.S. Thanks Alan!
Well done H ... I also couldn't see how to join group in order to reply ... It used to be so easy! But also never occurred to me to post in this way!
Unknown said:Yep the black bar is a mobile thing Wendy I get it on my phone.
It's not just a mobile thing, at least not for me. I get this whenever I open a post that requires group membership to reply if I'm not already a member and I only use computers (not tablets or phones). So, I assume it must be browser related if you don't always get it - I tend to use MS Edge. I haven't actually tried to join a group using it so I don't know if or how that has changed.
I'll finish this thread with my last ones of the year on the 28 december, a little micro-moth which is probably Mompha subbistrigella, in the house on the window
& several in the trap including a Black-Spot Chestnut
The 2019 thread is here https://community.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/f/all-creatures/198118/mostly-moths-2019
Many thanks H for starting new thread & posting your last of 2018 ... still sorting mine out & not run any traps for quite some time with all the house renovations & the oh-so-cold nights!!
Just looked back & very suprised to find last moth trap was 14th Nov!!!
One of the Winter Moths?
Beautiful Plume (on very dirty kitchen blind!)
Our old friend LBAM
This tiddler from 10th Nov for you to ID as you're so good at them H!
Felt good to be posting moth pics again .... better set up trap soon!
Good to see your moths too Wendy!! You've been hogging them lately. I think the tiddler is a slightly worn Diamond-backed Moth. Interesting to read about it. It's caterpillars devour cabbage crops & it developed resistance to a lot of pesticides used against it & so they found a crop "Wintercress" that it prefers above all, so it lays it's eggs there but unfortunately for it, the caterpillars can't survive on it. Which is good news for the farmers & anyone who doesn't like pesticides.
EDIT Forgot to say that the 1st one may be a November Moth! I've never hadthe LBAM, they are not so common here & lovely plume.