MothTrap: Improvised

My Lepidopterology Beginnings

After seeing the beautiful moths caught every night at Holme NOA I too quickly became addicted. No longer content waiting until I get to the observatory and have chance to photograph the night visitors, I urgently needed my own way of attracting and temporarily detaining those beautiful butterflies of the night.

It would be interesting to see what is around the city centre at night (other than loud club revellers) A plan started to form in my head. What is the quickest way to get some moths? Leaving the window in my bathroom open and the light on! Fantastic, the 100 watt equivalent bulb is really bright and coupled with the white, floor to ceiling, tiles make it real moth magnet.

Also needed were some containers, so I can examine the moths properly. Being a complete novice, this is crucial for me. I  have no clue about the majority of moths (apparently 1,500 can be found in Norfolk and 2,500 nationally) I will have to take photographs and then try to identify what I actually caught. Pots sourced from Hobbycraft (needed them fast, no time to get proper entomologists/lepidopterists equipment) - the small bead containers are just the thing.

So I did it! 

However, by any means this is not the simplest way to catch moths. There is just too many places for the little 'monkeys' to hide. Undiscovered ones keep appearing throughout the day, bouncing off the closed window and getting a headache.

Need to invent something better and easier

The Improvised Moth Trap officially opened on the evening of 19th May, 2015.
Light was on from 22:00 to 04:00. Location: first floor, about 4 meters above ground.

All moths released after photo session some distance away from the house to avoid recapture.

A problem. The night was so damn cold (just 11°C) that only the few moths (photos below) made an appearance.

1x Dark Groundling (Bryotropha affinis) 

6x Horse Chestnut Leaf Miner (Cameraria ohridella)

1x Twenty-plume Moth (Alucita hexadactila)

1x White-shouldered House Moth (Endrosis sarcitrella)

Since that night I neglected my sleep. Between the hours of 21:00 and 04:00 i can be found periodically chasing moths around the bathroom with a pot in my hand. Me: up on the bath, then in the bath, reaching to the ceiling, peering behind the toilet roll... Where else could they be hiding?

20th May: (average temp 6.8°C)

1x Brimstone (Opisthograptis luteolata)

1x Garden Pebble (Evergestis forficalis)

and:
7x Horse Chestnut Leaf Miner (Horse Chestnut tree close by explains this)
1x White-shouldered House Moth (probably have a 'factory' for them in my house plants)

21st May : (average temp 9.7°C)

2x Horse Chestnut Leaf Miner
1x White-shouldered House Moth

22nd May: (average temp 13.0°C)

3x Horse Chestnut Leaf Miner
1x Twenty-plume Moth
1x White-shouldered House Moth

23rd May: (average temp 12.7°C)

2x Common Pug (Eupithecia vulgata)

1x Double Striped Pug (Gymnoscelis rufisciata)

1x Light Brown Apple Moth (Epiphyas posvittana)

1x Scalloped Hazel (Odonopteta bidentata)

and:
3x White-shouldered House Moth
1x Garden Pebble
1x Horse Chestnut Leaf Miner

24th May: (average temp 8.0°C)

1x Angle Shades (Phlogophora meticulosa)

1x Silver Y (Autographa gamma)

1x Vine's Rustic (Hoplodina ambigua)

Really slow start, the nights are very cold. Will definitely be plotting some sort of a graphical representation of the relationship between temperature and moth/species number.

... to be continued ...

Disclaimer: some moths may be identified incorrectly due to me still learning. If so please let me know and I will correct and thus improve my identification skills. Thank you