Today, for the third time in a week, I put the MOL pheromone lure (for Grapholita molesta) out in a trap in the garden at mid-day in the hope of getting Pammene giganteana which is attracted to the same lure - it also comes to the FUN and SKI lures. Although the conditions were perfect I wasn't really expecting a result because there's only one tiny oak sapling inside the garden and only one fairly young tree within sight of the house and you have to travel a good mile in any direction to find mature oaks. However - surprise, surprise - the target species actually turned up within the hour! Moth species number 1,043 for the garden.
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| Pammene giganteana, Westcott 14th March |
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| Pammene giganteana, Westcott 14th March |
The distribution of Pammene giganteana locally is not well known, probably because of its early flight period (March and April, sometimes into May) and it appears to be a bit reluctant to come to light. The availability of the pheromone lures has improved the situation immeasurably and last spring I was able to double my own records for the species in a matter of days, up to about 30 now, simply by taking a lure and trap to any area of oak woodland and invariably the moth would turn up within minutes. If you have one of these lures, please get them out now while there's very little chance of any other species but giganteana turning up!
Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks
I had 4 to the FUN lure around mid-day yesterday. Judging by the reports on the Moth Pheromone Facebook group it was a good day for them. Thursday onwards looks promising for a few days.
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