Marne Moth Morning

Friday, June 20th 2014

Last weekend volunteers met at Marne Barracks early on Saturday morning to empty the eight moth traps that had been set at dusk on Friday.

In total over 1,300 individual moths were trapped across 200 species with 30 new species recorded for the site. Also notable observations were Valerian Pug, which is listed as nationally scarce. Marbled Coronet (below) which is locally rare was only seen once in Yorkshire last year; eight individuals were trapped around Marne, quite a remarkable recording!

Marbled Coronet

Some regular visitors to the Foxglove trap were also spotted and quickly identified by our volunteers including Scorched Wing.

Cinnabar moths which are frequently seen through the scrapes also made an appearance.

There were also plenty of hawkmoths seen, including Poplar Hawkmoth, and Elephant Hawkmoth which have been seen here on our trapping session over Tuesday evening. Small Elephant Hawkmoth was also recorded (top right), this is one species that is not seen as often on the reserve.

Eyed Hawkmoths showed off their beautiful colouring and defence strategy as they were placed back in the bushes, or in this case on the ground, for an easier photo!

These pictures show just a fraction of the variety and beauty of the moths caught. If you are interested in learning more about these fascinating creatures we run moth trapping sessions on Wednesday morning, starting at 9.15am in the Field Centre.

Thank you to Charlie for identifying the moths, Raye for getting up so early to close the traps, and Tony for helping to set everything up, and of course everyone else who was involved in making this event a success!

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