Moth Trapping Event 2024
Janet Heath kindly organised a moth trapping event today with Yorkshire moth recorders, Charlie Fletcher and Jill Warwick, that was kindly hosted in Pippa Sterne’s garden. There were 6 traps placed in Walton, Deepdale, central Boston Spa and Pippa’s garden that backs onto the river.
We had 78 moth species recorded. For Charlie, as a moth recorder, the most interesting was the little micro Caloptilia honoratella which feeds on sycamore. It first appeared in Yorkshire in 2022 and this is the ninth county record, so it must be spreading quite fast.
For the spectators, the one which aroused the most interest was the stunning and photogenic Elephant Hawk-moth; we captured four, all of which obliged us by staying still for a very long time.
We had a nice group that arrived early in the morning to watch each trap being opened, and the moths identified, recorded and released. It was very exciting to see what beautiful creatures were in each trap from the different locations. As they warmed up, quite a few of the moths would fly away and land on the spectators.
One of the moths that was caught was a Large Yellow Underwing moth which Charlie mentioned he used to see 6,000 a year on average, but he now only sees 1,500 a year. This must be down to changes in agricultural practices and residential gardens getting smaller and tidier.
We also had some beetles from Deepdale, one being a beautiful burying beetle with distinctive red stripes. And there were a couple of cockchafer beetles.
Below is a list of moths that were found at each location and a gallery of photos taken:
Click here to watch Charlie opening one of the traps.
I’m surprised you didn’t spot any Mint Moths (Pyrausta aurata) in your moth survey. I’ve spotted one in my garden here in Boston Spa.
I’m sure there’re lots we didn’t see and the moth recorder did say that if we’d set traps the following night, we could catch an array of different species. I also believe mint moths fly during the day, so it might reduce the likelihood of catching them in night traps? We’re thinking of doing it again at a different time of year.