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| Six-belted Clearwings at lure, Westcott 14th June |
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| Six-belted Clearwing, Westcott 14th June |
Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks
A Blog for moth recorders in Bucks, Berks and Oxon
Wednesday, 14 June 2017
Six-belted Clearwing
As it was a nice sunny day I took the API pheromone lure out to a local site this afternoon and was rewarded by the arrival of 10+ male Six-belted Clearwings within a minute at one spot and a singleton after a couple of minutes at another. This is perhaps the easiest Clearwing lure to use because if the moth doesn't respond almost immediately you can simply move on elsewhere. It also boosts one's confidence a little that perhaps the other lures do work after all, despite hours of attracting nothing! I've been using the Hornet Moth lure in a pheromone trap in the garden fairly regularly each day for the past week and this morning got a result - a Marmalade Hoverfly!
Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks
Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks
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Hi Dave,
ReplyDeleteI am coming up your way next Thursday/Friday with a friend from Bristol who is keen to see the Black Hairstreak for the first time. While there I wouldn't mind trying out my API lure. Could you let me know where you used it or if that site was private where else I might try.
Many Thanks Derek
Dave - I think the hornet lure is well known for having very little effect. I've personally never had any to it even in areas where I have found many and know they're there.
ReplyDeleteDerek - anywhere with good stands of well established Lotus will probably yield Six-belted in these parts, at least that's my experience, and as Dave says, you just keep trying for a few minutes at good clumps so don't waste much time finding the right patch.
BW, Marc
Hi Marc,
DeleteThanks for that. I tried the API lure at Larden Chase and The Hollies this morning. There is a reasonable amount of Trefoil and Kidney Vetch but I had no luck again. The lures are only 1 year old, have been stored in the freezer, and not used that much so I'm not sure what the problem is. It would be useful to try them out at a known site just to be sure. Derek
Thanks, Marc, that's my experience too. I've had not a single result with the Hornet Moth lure in more than ten years of trying (not with the same lure all that time, I might add!) and I live in an area where there are loads of poplars and the moth is common.
ReplyDeleteDerek, I find that Six-belted is more likely to be found at sites which have had some recent disturbance (quarries, disused railway lines, etc). If you are up this way I'd recommend you go to BBOWT's Calvert Jubilee nature reserve which is an old clay extraction site. From the small car-park at SP 6817 2517, enter the reserve and it quickly opens out to your left into a very large clear area with a huge amount of bird's-foot trefoil.
Hi Dave,
DeleteMany thanks for that. I will try and give Calvert a go next week if I can.
Derek
There is also variation in flight periods dependent on habitat, year y year etc., I find them on chalk grassland most places I've looked for them and in field margins on my farmland transect near Wallingford but I never see them until July in these places, often into August. Greenham Common is stacked with them, I put a lure out in the car park at Cookham end when doing field work a few years back and within seconds they were coming in. Don't get me wrong I've missed more than I've hit with pheremone lures, but perseverance usually is rewarded. I don't know how long individuals are on the wing for, perhaps their flight period is fairly short???, but I can try the same site week after week and sometimes get them sometimes not so a negative result is not always a sure sign of absence even with fully functional lures.
ReplyDeleteHi Marc,
DeleteThanks for that. Greenham is fairly near to me so I can try that too.
Derek