18th August 2009

Earlier this year, I made a moth-trap and have since been using it to build up a list of the species which use my garden.  The garden isn’t particularly promising because it is surrounded by others which contain no mature trees and, in many cases, little more than lawn. However, I have recorded over thirty species during the past three months and there have been a number of micro-moths which I have not identified. I find new species each time I use the trap.

Last night, as is usually the case at the moment, the trap caught about twenty Large Yellow Underwings and a few other species, such as Flame Shoulder, Silver Y, Mother of Pearl and Dark Arches. A new species for my list was the Lesser Swallow Prominent.

I used a ‘black bulb’ when constructing the trap because this does not disturb the neighbours, as a mercury vapour lamp would. Also, black bulbs are much cheaper than mercury vapour lamps and no choke is required, making the overall cost significantly lower than for the commercially available traps. I have found that the trap catches enough moths to keep a novice busy with identification, especially when there are a number of similar species.

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