Attracted to actinic light, rather than pheromone lure, I think that the micro below is a perhaps a reasonable candidate for Grapholita funebrana.
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As an aside, I've puzzling over why so many of my trapped moths are ending up just as a set of wings on the bottom of the box, when apparently no wasps/hornets are about. This morning I discovered a wren, red-handed inside the Robinson trap (and trapped like the moths). I'm sure they can squeeze inside the Skinner trap too as the same happens to me with this, if it gets left too long without attention.
Has anyone else had experience with similar 'robbers' - I suspect the blue tits are at it too!
Hi Keith,
ReplyDeleteThe tortrix is a Dichrorampha, probably the very common acuminatana (all that "nasal hair" is a give-away that it is a Dichrorampha). D.plumbagana, which also feeds on yarrow, is now flying in one of its colonies near me and can look similar but should be separable by the length of the costal fold. Later in the year others appear, making dissection the best way forward.
I get up just before dawn - currently around 4am! - to close up the garden traps then go back to bed. It seems to be the only way to ensure the contents remain safe from birds.
Thanks for the correction, Dave. I will have to consider a similar strategy to keep the birs away!
DeleteYes I am experiencing the same problem! Was puzzled how birds could be getting in (I do have a very bold Robin that has to be shooed away when I'm processing the catch, but I couldn't see it entering the Robinson trap). I hadn't thought of Wren.
ReplyDeleteIf you use an mv bulb, leave it on until you go and look. The hot bulb deters a lot. I'm not an early bird like Dave, but leaving it on helps. Then I've araldited a narrow metal piece of wire across each of the 3 entrances to my Robinson, slighlty off centre. This reduces the entry size, allows big hawks to still get in, but not small birds. If it is of interest, I'll take a photo and e-mail to you (or anyone else for that matter)
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