Sharing the results from my latest Moth Trap Session. I have written posts about setting up a moth trap and on collecting the results if you want some more background info on how and why I use a Moth Trap
Exciting news today... I finally have an opportunity to try out my new Moth Trap!
Well, I say new... technically its over 20 years old...
Right, lets back up and start again.
I have been Moth Trapping for about 6 years now... and for the last 5 I have been using this trusty little Heath Moth Trap (pictured below). It was bought for me by my partner, and its been well used and greatly appreciated. It has enabled me to explore the garden at night, and has shown just how much wildlife there is to look at.
Four weeks ago, my partner came home from one of her Camera Club meetings with a list of equipment for sale. One of the members was taking a step back from photography, and was flogging a lot of old gear. There were al sorts on that list, from DSLR camera bodies, to various lenses, bags and other accessories. I took a look and immediately I noticed at the bottom of the list - Moth Trap £30.00
I asked her to find out more, and to cut a long story short, earlier this week she came home with this wooden Skinner Moth Trap
Two things are obvously apparent. The construction is different, instead of a cone with a light bulb suspended above it, the Skinner Trap has two angled sheets of plastic with a small gap inbetween. This allows the moths in, but makes it hard to fly out again.
The other obvious difference is the shear size of the thing, it makes my little Heath Trap look quite small and pokey in comparison!
A huge difference in size. More space, means more egg trays and hopefully potentially more moths
always a good thing!
Here you can see the gap in the centre of the Skinner trap (underneath the light fitting). The way the light bulb is positioned is also better allowing more light to be given off, and hopefully making it more visible to nearby moths.
I mentioned this belonged to someone else. When he handed it over to my parnter, he told her that he had had the trap over 20 years, and hadn't actually used it for the last 5 years or so....and to be honest it looks like its been sat in a shed somewhere covering dust and spider webs!
So, firstly it needs a quick clean...
First I remove the light, and lift up the plastic sheets
Then I can empty out all the old egg trays.
I believe these skinner traps are designed to be flat packed, so they can be easily stored and transported. I carefully lift out one wooden panel...
...and the whole thing collapsed!
There's your flat packed design then haha!
I quickly grab a brush and remove the random bits of spider web, dead flies, spider molts and any other detritus
There, much better!
Now to work out how to arrange the egg trays. All these are are bits of cardboard, but the shape of them allows all sorts of nooks and cranies for moths to hide in, so when they fly into the trap, their natual instinct is to hide away from the light
Now I can set the trap into position, and place the light back into the top of the trap...
How cool does that look!
Disclaimer - please note... I am talking about trapping moths, but this is NOT a killing trap. The light attracts the moths, the carboard inside encourages them to hide inside the trap and when I am ready I will open it up to look at and record what species I see, and then let them all fly away.
And here it is. Darkness has fallen, and I have turned the light on.
It doesn't look very bright to me, and then I remembered something my partner said earlier. The guy I bought this from said the trap was 20+ years old AND that this was the original bulb.
How may light bulbs do you know that are still effective 20 years later?
I think I'm gonna have to invest in a new bulb.
This will have to do for now I guess... there is some light, and moths have already started appearing.
So here we go, I am now ready for the first session using a Skinner Trap
How will it compare to my little Heath Trap? Well, there is only one way to find out... check back tomorrow for my next post when I find out how effective this new(old) trap actually is.
Notes on Pictures: Since I started moth trapping 5 years ago, I have been slowly building up collection of Library Images. The idea being that once I have taken a picture of a particular species of Moth, I don't need another picture of the same species a year later. It’s a waste of time and energy. I only take pictures of new species, or of moths that are difficult to ID, so I can get the records verified.
While in my care, all individuals are looked after, and after Photographs have been taken, they are all released safely outside.
All names confirmed and checked via Wikispieces
Further Research from UK Moths and NatureSpot
If you have any thoughts or opinions on this article then I'd love to see your comments.
And if you really like the content then maybe you would like to upvote or re-hive it.
Check out my website for more of my work.
Your post and all the descriptions are amazing !!
Thanks you really much for sharing it 🌟
No worries, I'm glad you enjoyed reading it... I generally do a moth trap session once a week so keep an eye out for a new post shortly!
all right ! So I will stay up to date for sure :)
I wish you a pleasant week.
Thanks for the support and re-blog @ewkaw :-)
This is something I was looking into a few years back, and the sat up with your new-old one is one I was thinking about making myself.
I never thought of using egg cartons myself, there was a blog I read that said to use leaves for them to hide into, but I like the idea of egg cartons as there is plenty of them going around.
I'll be checking back to see the results, are you having both boxes on to see which collects the most?
That's awesome, did you ever get round to making one in the end?
I've never heard of using leaves. I guess I can see why they would work (natural cover) but I definitely recommend using egg trays, so much easier to sort through the trap at the end of the session. (quicker and also less chance of hurting the moths too)
I never did make one, tbh I ended up siding with the butterflies, I made an enclosure to let the caterpillars live in to give them more of a chance to get to that stage, I built it out of 3x2s and covered it in netting then placed a few nettles in. it turned out all right.
Now I have a new allotment I am going to make some space for it once again, it was great when you're letting them fly right from your hands. my kids loved it too.
ah thats fair enough. And well done on providing nettles, so many people forget that the caterpillar food plants also need to be available, not just pretty flowers.
Good luck with the allotment, we put a small pond in ours (which provides water for birds and a home for frogs and diving beetles) and scattered some wildflower seeds. It doesn't take much to create something that's beneficial for wildlife and some thing for your family to enjoy too :-)
Very cool! Can't wait to see what you find...
Certainly is!
I've just written a post about that session.... quick review: its a big improvement on my old one (but I need to change the way I do the session as it was awkward to pack away at the end)
Out of curiosity, have you ever captured an invasive species or one that had never been recorded in the area? I see that it is an aquarium light is it a sunglow?
The light is a blacklight bulb which gives of UV light. I don't know about aquariums, but I do know that these bulbs are used in insect zappers (pest control). Obviously I don't have the electric part that kills anything, but these lights are designed to have a wavelength which attracts insects, so they are effective.
'Invasive' is an interesting word. There are a lot of natural migrants (which disperse northwards as part of their normal life cycle, and there are 'adventive species' which refers to accidental introductions.
It is always a hope/dream to catch a new species (or to get a first for the UK or even the first for my county). I've not managed it yet, although with climate change affecting the environmental conditions, there are lots of species (bird/mammal/insect) which are on the move, so there is always an opportunity to see something 'new'.
One of my more interesting finds was the Scarlet Tiger Moth Caterpillars I found a few weeks ago. They are predominately a species only found in the South of England, but are starting to spread northwards (due to climate change etc). My record of them was not only the 2nd Lincolnshire record, but it was also the most notherly location they had been seen, and as I had seen caterpillars it also showed that it was no accident, as they were breeding in this location.
your scientific contribution is appreciated in our community, thank you for placing the source from which you extract the information! I wish you luck with this trap!
We appreciate your work and your post was manually curated by @none! from the DNA team!
Reach us on Discord to learn more about the project!
Thanks for the kind words... I do like to make a note of some of the sources I use, although I don't have room to write all of them down.
That might be an idea for a future post actually... a reference/bibliography/reading list of all the different places I get info from...
I wonder if a new bulb will make a difference. I love the fact it is collapsible, easy to lug around if need be.