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Question from a novice. (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter LSB
- Start date
If you are urban then possibly wait till March, but if rural, anytime it's mild.LSB said:Cheers Angus
I packed it away as I wasn't catching anything as we had high winds at the time and being a novice it got me disillusioned. I know springs the best time to start but I was hoping for a particular month..
I usually record about 15 species in February and about 40 in March. All but about 3 of the species in Feb I record in March
HTH
Hi,
I am down in Teesside and unless you are in the country on the edge of a nice wood I would start trapping again early March (probably the first reasonable looking night). My mid-March you should be getting a few moths again. My traps will be turned on again at this time. You will still get a few blank nights on the colder moonlit nights but nothing like when you trap over winter which I did for 2-3 years and sometimes got upto 2 weeks with 2 traps running each nights without a single moth
Regards,
Jamie
I am down in Teesside and unless you are in the country on the edge of a nice wood I would start trapping again early March (probably the first reasonable looking night). My mid-March you should be getting a few moths again. My traps will be turned on again at this time. You will still get a few blank nights on the colder moonlit nights but nothing like when you trap over winter which I did for 2-3 years and sometimes got upto 2 weeks with 2 traps running each nights without a single moth
Regards,
Jamie
MikeWall
HantsMoth-er
LSB said:
I would generally agree with the above, although as Angus says it might be worthwhile having a go on mild, still nights before then. Be prepared to not catch anything even then though! I generally start trapping consistently (two or three times a week) from mid February, but am prepared for nil returns to be the norm!
PS Don't just depend on ukmoths... see the sticky on this forum which shows the multitude of websites that are out there to help with ID.
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Terry Stokes
Terry Stokes
From my experience although you may be finding an empty moth trap in your garden in the winter,as I myself am doing at the moment,a portable trap in a mature woodland is a whole different world!On New Years Day 2005 when I emptied my Heath trap in a nearby woodland I had 103 moths in it.When I checked the mv in the garden -zero!It's not that there are no moths around in the winter,it's more where they are.
MikeWall
HantsMoth-er
Terry Stokes said:
This confirms what's been said above: unless you live near woodland, garden trapping can be a pretty fruitless hobby. There are no (or very few) nectar sources around in the wild during winter, and in any case many winter species do not feed as adults. Therefore there are no readily available refuelling stops to allow long-distance movements - many of the species that turn up in gardens during spring/summer are dispersing from more suitable habitat - and it 'makes sense' for males to remain in or near suitable habitat, especially for those species which have flightless females.
Mike
