Any tips on using Robinson Trap? (1 Viewer)

So I've recently picked up a Robinson Trap second hand and am keen to put it to some use. Weathers being a bit iffy at present, cloudy but a touch on the windy side, but I hope to get it out tonight.

So I'm out for any tips or advice people have from using theirs. I hope to set it up and leave it running overnight and come to it in the morning and see what its caught.


I can run power to it from indoors and put some plastic bags over the contacts/electrics to keep them protected from moisture. And also to use the rain guard on the trap to avoid damage from any falling moisture on the bulb when its hot. It says it shouldn't rain tonight but better safe than sorry.


Otherwise I can't think of any other differences to what I should do compared to my Heath Trap?

Early results after one night

1) This catches way more - WAAAAAY more than my Heath Trap ever has. In fact it overwhelmed me at how many it caught. It was also exciting to see 6 elephant hawkmoths, a lime and a poplar as well!

2) I need to cut the egg trays up into smaller divisions. My original method of tapping the back of a tray to get the one or two moths out doesn't work when you've got a dozen on each side!

3) As I aim to take photos of the moths caught I really need to establish a better station/setup for photographing them out of the wind and for getting the photos taken as fast as possible. Again in the past having caught way fewer moths this wasn't an issue,.

4) 6am wasn't early enough to check the trap. I've done my mothing in the wintery months as of late so miss-judged how awake many of the moths were and how flight capable. Even though I set the trap up in the shade and the spot we live in often delays the sun for an hour or so (hill - well small rise by most standards) and it was cloudy, its still humid and warm

5) Having moths fly into ones beard is an odd experience!



My only critique on the trap is I wish the rain cover was half an inch or so wider as it would then cover the opening hole more fully as a shield against moths escaping. And that, honestly, is a super minor nit-pick.


Right now I've covered it over and set it aside, I'll let the moths sleep off the day and let them go in the evening now. They'll only remain as awake/mobile through the day with the heat. I've had more than enough luck with it working so I can let them out this evening and work in getting myself a better setup so that next time I can be more efficient.

Hi. I held off giving the benefit of my limited experience in the hope that others might have answered your query,but since that hasn't happened, just one or two comments from me. I borrowed a friend's Robinson trap for the whole of the summer in Cornwall last year after a couple of summers with a Skinner trap on Scilly. Certainly, the Robinson seems to increase the volume of the catch but it was also noticeable how many more escapees there were as soon as I took the lid off each morning. I've lost a couple of things I'd like to have photographed simply because I turned my back on the trap for a couple of minutes or went off to fetch more pots or whatever. Maybe because it's so dark inside the Robinson the moths haven't yet settled for the day, or, as I observed several times, there was just no more 'room at the inn' as so many of the egg cartons were covered with moths from time to time?

I'm not trapping this summer, but I know from previous years, a near new moon in June (coupled with the overcast, muggy weather we've been having) is possibly the absolute best time for peak numbers. So you're volume may (or may not) drop off as the moon cycle and weather conditions change?

I can't stop myself getting up at 0430 when I've got a trap running in summer - on Scilly I'm plagued by Sparrows, in particular, decimating my catch if I leave it running too long. I find an old sheet thrown over the top of the trap can buy me some time, if I feel like going back to bed and sorting them out later. Also, as far as rain goes, I don't trap if a couple of hours moderate rain is forecast, but if there's only an hour or so, or only light rain, I might place a chair or something over the top of the trap to supplement the shelter.

Good luck

Incidentally, I might add that you sometimes do get a good percentage of moths OUTSIDE the trap, if you look around the immediate area. In early September, especially, I used to have a ring of about 20 Brimstone Moths in the grass around the trap every morning for about a fortnight. Again, an old sheet spread out and placed UNDER the trap can not only help you gain a few extras, but also stop you from standing on them! I was trapping in a very grassy field, so it was an occasional problem for me, no matter how much care I took to avoid them.

Britseye, my thanks for your thoughts. The idea about putting down a white sheet under and around the trap is a good one I hadn't even considered. I knew of the fact that moths would alight around the trap area, but your idea of putting down a ground sheet would certainly make those on the ground easier to avoid stepping on!

And yes I threw the trap out because of the higher cloud cover (which I think we are losing for the rest of the week) and so I did expect to get a decent catch. I think one massive difference is the power of the light source, the bulb is far more powerful than the tube light for my Heath Trap. I do agree that the moths seemed to only be lightly settled in my trap; a nudge and many were willing to take flight (or in the case of the hawk moths they'd stand there waving their wings around then take flight).

However the trap I've got has a clear rather than black upper ring, so the trap inside is quite bright. I suspect its more a case of wind and heat than of light. There's a decent bit of wind about so as soon as the moth is out of the trap or even the central bit opened up, they feel the wind and I think that with the heat (so they've got energy) makes them more inclined to take flight and find a more sheltered spot.

I know moth trappers who open their trap in a small greenhouse to avoid losing moths.
I open my really full traps in my washroom and if anything flies I usually pick it up later
on the window. I sometimes get up early to avoid sparrows/light, grab anything outside of the trap, stuff the top with old towels, move it to a shady spot or indoors and then go back to bed for a kip until a more sensible time
when I can process the moths at a more leisurely pace.

Either way the 'moth season' can be knackering but we all love it.
Use this site http://www.northumberlandmoths.org.uk - carefully curated by our county recorder Tom Tams.

It's the best county moth site in the UK (in my opinion) and has some excellent id tips and start up info.
Tom's photos are an exemplar of how to capture moth images.

Thanks for the link Andy that's a very neat website; very well organised and setup; a great read!

Photo wise I really want to set up something proper with the lighting all in the right place and put a few rulers down to give a rough idea of size and scale for each of the moths as well. I also really need to get it so that I can fix the white balance for colour accuracy!

Overread said:

Thanks for the link Andy that's a very neat website; very well organised and setup; a great read!

Photo wise I really want to set up something proper with the lighting all in the right place and put a few rulers down to give a rough idea of size and scale for each of the moths as well. I also really need to get it so that I can fix the white balance for colour accuracy!

Click to expand...

I won't claim to be a competent photographer, but what has worked for me, using a hand-held DSLR, is:

1. Put the lens to manual focus, and set the focus to a distance of about 30cm. Move the moth to the focal point.
2. Use light-grey egg cartons, which seem to be close enough to an 18% grey card to give reasonable white balance. If you want a scale, perhaps worth buying an 18% grey card and drawing lines on it.
3. Try to photograph the subject in light shade rather than direct sunlight.
4. Don't use flash or artificial light.

DMW some interesting points, several of which I already do (manual focus) or at least attempt to achieve most times (avoiding direct strong sunlight).

That said I do make use of flash. The photo I put above is taken with flash, one to the left and one to the right, both with a modest softbox attached. It's another thing I want to get better setup in a studio type situation so that I don't have to fiddle with them too much. I find it gives me good clean light and whilst moths taken against a white backdrop will never be as pretty as those in-situ it at least makes for clear and easy to spot markings and features without any distractions; plus if I've already lured the moths into an eggbox they are already not naturally posed nor positioned anyway.

This came up on a facebook group so here are a few comments.
I only use the 6 egg cartons. Any larger (e.g. egg trays) and there are too many moths to handle at one time and there are bound to be escapes.
By all means get up early but plug the trap rather than putting a blanket over it. This will just make the moths more active. I push wads of absorbent paper towel down each of the holes in the funnel - no escapes. One can then put the trap somewhere cool and shady but not in the dark.
When opening the trap I cover the hole in the collar with a WHITE butterfly net - pulled taught like a drum skin. Any moths flying up to the net can be seen and easily potted without removing the net. It's then a simple matter to lift the net up and select one carton at a time until they're all done. I prefer to release them straight away into dense herbage, retaining any for further work (id'ing or photography) in glass tubes with cork stoppers (various sizes and you can't have enough!).
I also put a steep-sided Pyrex bowk under the funnel - to retain any beetles that might otherwise wander around all night disturbing the moths.
Below as how my trap looks before putting the collar and lamp on.

Thanks honeym! Some very interesting ideas and thoughts there, I had considered cutting egg trays into two cups each. That keeps them with some volume, but also means that each pair can hold even fewer moths and thus should be even easier to work with.