Mothing......

           There are several hundred moth species in the UK and I am not much good at identifying more than a handful without thumbing my way through field guides but I do like to run my moth trap in Crow Wood every now and then to see what's about. The last time I did it I managed to find a name for over thirty species. A moth trap is basically just a very bright light which attracts the moths and then has a place for them to hide (usually egg boxes) when they get inside and from where they can be careful lifted out and identified.  I am so slow at this I use my smartphone to make a record so I can release the moths again quickly and thumb through books later.

          As I was staying in the wood on Tuesday night I decided to run the trap overnight. As expected the night produced a good haul and here are some of the highlights:

A Light Emerald

A Lesser Swallowtail (yes, there is a Greater version too)

A Common Swift

The trap attracted a lot of these Buff Tips and several Pale Tussocks

A Treble Lines (good name !)

A Green Carpet and a Buff Ermine

`The is not a moth at all but a May Bug or Cockchafer, a species of beetle

A closer view of a Pale Tussock, note the hairy legs.

The May Bug was a pleasant surprise as sadly they are no longer very common. They have a fascinating life history. The adults live in the soil for most of the year taking three to four years to develop from grubs. They emerge in May and then live for just a few weeks, long enough to mate and lay more eggs in the soil, typically under trees. Because of their extended development time May Bugs tend to be more common in cycles........perhaps 2020 is a big year for them !