Sunday 22 March 2009

Longfield - Moths

Decided to have a go with my MV trap last night for a few hours and was surprised to get 5 moths of 3 species, two of which were new.
Totals for the 4 hours of trapping were 3 common quaker, 1 small quaker and a yellow horned, so called because of the colour of its antennae.
It's amazing to think that these moths start to emerge from February onwards, how well adapted to the cold unpredictable early spring weather they must be.

Yellow Horned


Small Quaker


Common Quaker



3 comments:

Ken. said...

Hi John.
How nice to see some moth pictures so early on.I will have to have a go at trapping moth's this year. Do you know of any simple ones to make that are quite successful?

Cheryl said...

Hi John....we have a few moths flying at night but havn't been able to capture any with my camera yet.
Like you I am amazed how many insects survive the cold temperatures that we have had.....

Great to see your photographs.....

John Young said...

Hi Ken, My trap is actually an old dustbin with a hole cut in the lid into which I fit an old lampshade that houses the mv bulb. I then fill the dustbin with egg boxes. A cable then runs from the trap to my shed where the MV choke purrs away during the night. I started with an actinic bulb trap which was excellent and reasonably cheap at £50.00.