Lucky 13

I spent a couple of hours at Finemere Wood, Bucks this afternoon with the API, LUN and SAL pheromone lures.  Nothing came to the LUN lure wherever it was hung out, but the other two both produced the expected species.  A lone Six-belted Clearwing came to API just outside the wood entry gate where there is a fair amount of bird's-foot trefoil in the fields on either side and along the track itself.  Singles of Sallow Clearwing came to the SAL lure at the first ride cross-roads (within 30 minutes, while I was away doing a butterfly count in Finemere Meadows) and at the turning circle (within five minutes), so giving records from two different tetrads in the wood which is nice.  

Six-belted Clearwing, Finemere Wood 8th July

When I got back home I put the SAL lure out in the garden at 4.50pm in the hope of getting another Sallow Clearwing, just to prove to myself that there is a local population after getting a pair here four days ago.  Dispelling any thoughts otherwise, the trap had attracted seven of them within five minutes and then a total of 13 after half an hour, so at that point I decided to bring the lure in.  All were checked to make sure they really were Sallow Clearwings and that was indeed the case - no interlopers!  Assuming I've managed to upload it correctly, the short 15-second video below was taken while they were still arriving...

In case anyone wonders, I store my lures in the freezer inside the small clear re-sealable plastic envelope in which they arrive, kept within an airtight plastic container along with any old lures I have of that particular compound.  The envelope, container and old lures are all placed in the bottom of the trap to provide an inducement for the moths to actually enter it rather than just flying around the lure at the top before departing, something I've seen happen all too often! 

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks