I tried for Hornet Moth this morning at a line of Black Poplars about 400 m from our garden, but with no luck. So I brought the trap back, changed the lure to VES and hung it up in the garden in a likely spot.
To my surprise, not more than about five minutes later I glanced at the trap to see a Hornet moth inside. Clearly there must have been a trace of HOR pheromone left on the trap, but the question is where did the moth come from? There is another stand of Black Poplars about 200 m away, but directly upwind (and the wind is pretty strong today), so an unlikely source. I suppose it could have followed me back to the garden from the initial location then hung around for 20 mins or so until I put the trap back out, but it seems much more likely that it had originated from a large mature Grey Poplar, about 5 m from where I had hung the trap.
Phil T
Hi Phil,
ReplyDeleteHornet Moth seems to use Black Poplar by choice, but your Grey Poplar is still a possibility so you should have a close inspection of the bottom six inches or so of the tree trunk for signs of past exit holes and, with luck, a pupal exuvia sticking out of one of them.
Example here: https://upperthamesmoths.blogspot.com/2020/05/hornet-moth.html
ReplyDeleteOk thanks Dave, I'll do that. Thanks too for the link.
ReplyDeletePhil