How often do you put the trap out? (1 Viewer)

smokenack · Jul 26, 2015

It varies with me from year to year depending on the time available and my enthusiasm. As you can tell from my regular postings here that this year I'm very keen and am aiming to trap every other night weather permitting. In past years it's been every 3 nights, once a week etc. and in some years whole months have elapsed between mothing nights.

How detrimental to the local moth populations is trapping every night? I'm a little concerned that I'm over trapping this year as it is.

honeym · Jul 26, 2015

I mainly trap at one location which is quite an open site so, for me, the deciding factor is the wind (previously it was only on Friday or Saturday night. In recent years this has meant an ever decreasing number of options for trapping due to the increasing windiness of the UK weather.
As for any detrimental affects of moth trapping, I don't believe there are any - or they are very slight. providing you release the moths early and away from the trap site the number of recatches are negligible. However, security lights on buildings are entirely another matter. I've seen moths in the same place for days on end and in some instances they died there too. I also ttrap abroad where we run the trap every night for 2-3 weeks and we rarely have retraps.
One final comment, one does have to be aware of the local birds, etc., finding the trap.
Martin

Dom F · Jul 27, 2015

In the winter (which is coming to end now) I try to trap 2-3 times per week but it is definitely weather dependant, if it is windy or a clear night then I will probably give it a miss. In the summer / wet season I try to trap at least every other night and usually every night but again weather dependent. My trap site (against the wall of my house) is exceedingly well sheltered and so light to moderate rain is not an issue, obviously cyclonic conditions tend to put a halt to proceedings! I get remarkably few re-traps (aside possibly from the 5-10 very regular species) - at times annoyingly few as there are some cracking species that I have only got very poor pictures of. From the point of view of moth loss from other local wildlife that can be an issue here in particular with the introduced Cane Toad which is a real pest during the wet season, as I don't trap as such rather have a light against the wall releasing moths in the morning is not an issue as I rarely trap beyond 2am so I do not have any problems with birds although spiders and snakes cause a problem at times!

smokenack · Jul 27, 2015

honeym said:
As for any detrimental affects of moth trapping, I don't believe there are any - or they are very slight. providing you release the moths early and away from the trap site the number of recatches are negligible. However, security lights on buildings are entirely another matter. I've seen moths in the same place for days on end and in some instances they died there too. I also ttrap abroad where we run the trap every night for 2-3 weeks and we rarely have retraps.
One final comment, one does have to be aware of the local birds, etc., finding the trap.
Martin

Thanks for this Martin. If I trap on consecutive nights I place all the previous night's egg trays with moths in our front garden, the trap is positioned in the back garden. As for birds I'm a very early riser, nearly always up at dawn so I normally beat the birds to it. Earlier in the year I did have a female sparrow keep me company as I sorted through the trap. She would get quite aggressive at times trying to get me to clear off so she could have breakfast.

smokenack · Jul 27, 2015

Dom F said:
In the winter (which is coming to end now) I try to trap 2-3 times per week but it is definitely weather dependant, if it is windy or a clear night then I will probably give it a miss. In the summer / wet season I try to trap at least every other night and usually every night but again weather dependent. My trap site (against the wall of my house) is exceedingly well sheltered and so light to moderate rain is not an issue, obviously cyclonic conditions tend to put a halt to proceedings! I get remarkably few re-traps (aside possibly from the 5-10 very regular species) - at times annoyingly few as there are some cracking species that I have only got very poor pictures of. From the point of view of moth loss from other local wildlife that can be an issue here in particular with the introduced Cane Toad which is a real pest during the wet season, as I don't trap as such rather have a light against the wall releasing moths in the morning is not an issue as I rarely trap beyond 2am so I do not have any problems with birds although spiders and snakes cause a problem at times!

I'm quite envious of your mothing there Dom. I've been trying to get my wife to agree to a move somewhere a bit more tropical for 30 years now but I reckon the spiders and snakes make Cairns a no-no. I'm hoping at best for maybe southern Spain.

Dom F · Jul 28, 2015

smokenack said:
I'm quite envious of your mothing there Dom. I've been trying to get my wife to agree to a move somewhere a bit more tropical for 30 years now but I reckon the spiders and snakes make Cairns a no-no. I'm hoping at best for maybe southern Spain.

Having trapped in the UK for 20+ years it is absolutely amazing trapping in the tropics - after just 6 months trapping well over 550 ID'd to species and another 50-60 to genus level and prob 200 currently unID'd - and half this period has been our winter am really looking forward to spring!
The other wildlife certainly takes some getting used to and has to be treated with respected or things could go horribly wrong!
Am thinking of starting a complimentary thread to the July Moths thread (which I love reading as it brings back many happy memories) but don't want to appear to be gloating...but with 25 species of hawkmoth in my garden since late Feb may not be able to resist

smokenack · Jul 28, 2015

I can't speak for anyone else but I'd be fascinated to hear about which moths you get Dom. Id there a decent field guide or do you rely on internet sites?

davidg · Jul 28, 2015

smokenack said:
I can't speak for anyone else but I'd be fascinated to hear about which moths you get Dom. Id there a decent field guide or do you rely on internet sites?

I agree, it would be fascinating to know what you're catching - you could rub it in by adding a few pictures

David

Dom F · Jul 28, 2015

smokenack said:
I can't speak for anyone else but I'd be fascinated to hear about which moths you get Dom. Id there a decent field guide or do you rely on internet sites?

I will succumb to temptation and start an Aussie moth thread! IDing is quite a major challenge here - unlike the UK and America where there are comprehensive guides of macro and micro moths be they on line or published here in Aus there is not even a readily available comprehensive species list! It is thought that there are probably 25000 - 30000 species but there is a huge proportion that are not illustrated or described anywhere readily accessible to the general public. I use two main websites to try and get a broad idea as to family and then start googling and quite often it is not possible to be confident of genus let alone species. This is the case not only for micro moths (which is perhaps not too surprising) but also for a large range of macro moths, the photo I have attached for example had a wingspan of probably close to 3 inches but despite posting it on several ID forums, four months later I am no closer to even being confident if it is a Geometriidae or an odd Erebidae....

How often do you put the trap out? (1 Viewer)

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