Minibeasts

Wednesday, August 3rd 2016

Today was busy at Foxglove. At 9pm last night, a number of moth traps were set up by our local Moth expert Charlie Fletcher, spread throughout the reserve. Despite the drizzle overnight, he assured us that it was perfect for moth trapping as is was such a mild night. He obviously knew what he was talking about because this morning we arrived early to work to find the traps laden with moths and already carefully stacked on the front porch of the field centre ready to be identified.

It was a great haul with over 170 species caught. A couple of the nicer ones are shown below. This is Lemptes Gold Spot.

And this is Buff Arches

Today was also Minibeast Safari Morning- one of our Children’s School Holiday activity sessions. The moths tied in nicely with this and the children were able to see how the traps worked and get a good look at the different moths. Afterwards, they were able to release them.

As we had such good numbers present at the event we had to split the group into two. Roger and Karin took the children hunting under logs and up in the trees, while Stacey and Elizabeth headed down to Risedale Beck to see what we could find lurking there.

The weather has been very variable today, with very heavy downpours interspersed with patches of bright blue sky and sunshine. It has been tricky knowing what to put on each time you step out of the door! We would like to thank Charlie and his colleagues for identifying moths for us today. His expertise enables us to do in a morning what would probably take the rest of us several days!

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