Well here goes, for better or worse, another year of moths. The old thread is here https://community.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/f/all-creatures/196070/mostly-moths-2018/1221500#1221500
To start us off a couple of silly ones that came to greet the first trap of the year on the night of the 1st to 2nd january. It was around 6-7°C all night & frosts ever since so I gave it a go.
A Double-striped Pug
& same one closed
& White Speck
Nothing earth-shattering, but a start!
Best wishes
Hazel in Southwest France
Lot to learn
Hi Gaynor, it all happened because the computer was in the repair shop for the weekend & the weather wasn't too good. (It's always somebody else's fault). So I decided to take up the 2 new pairs of Rons denim trousers that had been on the list to do for a long time. He tried them on & I pinned them up. I then turned them inside out & pinned them again the inside, carefully measuring them. I then cut off the excess material from one pair. I can't remember now what happened next, but I had to go & answer the door, or the phone or something. Anyway, whatever it was my train of thought got interrupted (maybe I went to check on a caterpillar). I carried on with the job & starting cutting the excess materiel from the other pair & suddenly realised that it was not easy as it was double thickness. Oh dear, I had cut the lot off & they were now at least an inch too short & nothing to hem!! I was crying with laughter, Ron wasn't so amused as they were the nicer of the 2 pairs. However they did make a nice pair of long shorts for the garden. I've always been a bit scatty, but theses days I think Ron'll be sending for the men in white coats soon!
"Hi Hazel Loving the Ikea basket idea, I have made all mine from wood so far and this looks much more portable. Can you tell me where you made the holes in the basket and on the one you use with a 12v battery, does the lamp holder need a ballast or can it connect direct to the leads from the battery? Best regards Neil"
Quote from 2018 thread
Hi Neil, I cut 3 holes about 10 x 10 cm at equal distances around the basket (120°) each at a different height so bottom, middle & top.
If you buy a 240v bulb you need to buy an invertor to plug into as it won't run off the battery. For my traps in the wild these days I use the 12V 40W bulbs from Alibaba (China). I've not found them anywhere else. Funnily enough I've just bought a batch of 8 because we did a big session of mothtrapping on a reserve & the other mothers all wanted bulbs like mine. There are several different types & the suppliers are different every time I buy, but they always seem to be OK. You need to check it on delivery as I had one that was faulty & overheated but they replaced it or refunded my money. The 2 I have now have been working for 2 & 3 seasons. This is the link https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/32814153632.html?spm=a2g0w.search0104.3.65.d89929039G8IEQ&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0%2Csearchweb201602_6_10065_10068_319_317_10548_10696_10192_10084_453_454_10083_10618_10304_10307_10820_10821_10301_537_536_10843_10059_10884_10887_321_322_10103%2Csearchweb201603_52%2CppcSwitch_0&algo_expid=09cc4825-9eff-4085-ace8-1b798dff03f1-10&algo_pvid=09cc4825-9eff-4085-ace8-1b798dff03f1&transAbTest=ae803_4
P.S. You need to make sur you click on the 40W sign on the page. They take 4-6 weeks for delivery.
We measured how much they take from the battery with a multimeter & it's only 1ampere so you don't need a giant battery to go all night. (the 40w must be equivalent as it works out at 12W) I get them free from my local garage as he gets them sometimes that aren't good enough to start a car but OK for my job & he lets me have them for nothing.If you're in a big open area you may need to use more powerful bulbs with a converter. Have you seen the photo of it working?
For the big trap with the sheet, I use 3 bulbs, a multi-drop & inverter to run from battery.
Hazel C said:I've always been a bit scatty, but theses days I think Ron'll be sending for the men in white coats soon!
You're not alone H ... see you there!! Lol
A rarity for me - a Poplar Hawk-moth and the first Hawk-moth I've seen for ages. It kindly let me move several grass stems to get a clear view.
You can't see from this pic, but it had the antennae folded down so they looked like big white eye-brows, which amused me!
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Nige Flickr