I'm now hoping for great things from National Moth Night, having just put my trap out in the drizzle. The poor forecast gives me the opportunity to try out my rain cover modification - see photo. I'll let you know how I get on.
Mick Jones
A Blog for moth recorders in Bucks, Berks and Oxon
Friday, 4 July 2014
Mursley moths
Those of you who attend Bucks Invertebrate Group (BIG) meetings may remember that challenge (almost accusation!) issued to me about the dreadful status of SP82, where I now live, as the poorest recorded 10km square in Bucks. Well, fearful of letting the side down, but with hardly any moth trapping experience, I committed to doing something about it. I built a Skinner-style trap and have run it on a few evenings through June in my small garden in the centre of Mursley. I've been amazed at the variety of moths I've seen through the month. So far I've recorded 93 species, over 30 of which have been flagged up by iRecord as 'falling outside the current known distribution', i.e. they are new to this 10km square.
I'm now hoping for great things from National Moth Night, having just put my trap out in the drizzle. The poor forecast gives me the opportunity to try out my rain cover modification - see photo. I'll let you know how I get on.
The Jones acetate rain cover - will it affect the catch?
Mick Jones
I'm now hoping for great things from National Moth Night, having just put my trap out in the drizzle. The poor forecast gives me the opportunity to try out my rain cover modification - see photo. I'll let you know how I get on.
Mick Jones
Very stylish Mick, I'm sure the moths will appreciate it. I'll send you a list of species recorded in your square as what iRecord is telling you may not be up to date and it would be interesting to see how the two compare
ReplyDeleteI like the design. Skinners and Robinsons rain shields only protect the bulb so that the rest gets wet still. As long as it doesn't go airborne in strong winds, the design looks good. I look forward to lots of postings for id'ing on this blog from you.
ReplyDeleteI like it too! As Peter says, far superior to those offered with bought traps. They have another draw-back in that water tends to pool on a flat rain-shield, thus offering moths a speedier end to their lives.
ReplyDelete