Moth Traps

[Lawts]

It's something I've never really dabbled with, being more interested in butterflies than moths.

Should people use them? Is there any detriment to the moths? It seems logical to me to think not; a moth that was planning a night of feeding, egg-laying etc. is prevented from doing so, and is then released into a bright sunny morning, or a wet morning and is exposed, or left a full day to be released.

I'd be quite interested in getting a trap, but it feels like it's one of these subjects where conservationists might suddenly reveal we shouldn't be doing it.

Also, if it is proven to be acceptable, is there a decent, safe, relatively cheap one on the market?

Thanks.

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Lawts

You may have noticed in my Personel Diary that I run a moth trap in my garden.

There is no problem with running one, in fact it is an important part of recording species and numbers in a given area just as walking transects and submitting records to your local Butterfly Conservation branch is. All my moth records go to my CMR (County Moth Recorder).

There are many opinions on how often to trap, personally I have settled on once or twice a week on average, depending on weather conditions. Some people trap every night and although this might seem excessive, mark and recapture studies have shown that very few moths return to traps on consecutive nights.

Traps can vary greatly in cost and some people make their own.

More information can be found on the following links;

https://butterfly-conservation.org/moth ... -downloads

https://www.angleps.com/mothtraps.php

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1444527009172197

Hope this helps,

Neil.

[Lawts]

Thanks Neil.