Moths!

[Uncle Kevriano]

I have finally got around to building myself a Moth Trap (Actinic Bulb, Skinner Trap) and have 2 successful nights of trapping so far, though my photos from the first night were awful as I hadn't quite sorted my settings for Macro work with these guys, so none of those are here. These are from last night. This will be an ongoing thing all year, as there are hundreds of moths out there, I've already had 27 different species in 2 nights. ID is on each photo.

• ILCE-7RM4
• FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS
• 90.0 mm
• ƒ/22
• 1/60 sec
• ISO 250

• ILCE-7RM4
• FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS
• 90.0 mm
• ƒ/7.1
• 1/500 sec
• ISO 2500

• ILCE-7RM4
• FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS
• 90.0 mm
• ƒ/10
• 1/500 sec
• ISO 5000

• ILCE-7RM4
• FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS
• 90.0 mm
• ƒ/10
• 1/500 sec
• ISO 5000

• ILCE-7RM4
• FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS
• 90.0 mm
• ƒ/16
• 6/10 sec
• ISO 400

• ILCE-7RM4
• FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS
• 90.0 mm
• ƒ/20
• 6/10 sec
• ISO 500

• ILCE-7RM4
• FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS
• 90.0 mm
• ƒ/16
• 1/500 sec
• ISO 5000

• ILCE-7RM4
• FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS
• 90.0 mm
• ƒ/22
• 3.2 sec
• ISO 400

• ILCE-7RM4
• FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS
• 90.0 mm
• ƒ/18
• 1/60 sec
• ISO 1000

• ILCE-7RM4
• FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS
• 90.0 mm
• ƒ/8
• 1/100 sec
• ISO 1000

 

[Unframed Dave]

Nice thread Kev, I'm going to be doing a bit of trapping myself this weekend. We have family staying over and it'll be good for the youngsters to see what's out there.

We put a trap up in the garden a fortnight ago, I couldn't believe that we had around a hundred moths the next morning. Poplar and elephant hawk were the highlights.

Hopefully I will get some pictures up after the weekend, I found a discounted nissin fm18 at wex and need to give it a trial run.

 

[iain clyne]

That is a nice set of Moth pictures.

 

[mapleleaf56]

Excellent series Kev…

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

Nice thread Kev, I'm going to be doing a bit of trapping myself this weekend. We have family staying over and it'll be good for the youngsters to see what's out there.

We put a trap up in the garden a fortnight ago, I couldn't believe that we had around a hundred moths the next morning. Poplar and elephant hawk were the highlights.

Hopefully I will get some pictures up after the weekend, I found a discounted nissin fm18 at wex and need to give it a trial run.

Excellent. My first nights trapping was good, but I made the gap between top plates too big and so I lost some I'm sure. I've modified it now, so next nights should be better.

Thanks to everyone else who's commented

 

[mapleleaf56]

Can I ask what you use for trapping them

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

Can I ask what you use for trapping them

I built myself a Skinner trap. It's basically a box with 2 angles sheets of plastic as a "lid" that have an inch wide gap between them. Inside the box there are egg boxes, or in my case Paint Can box inserts, for the moths to rest on. The bulb is a blacklight bulb (UV) and is currently mains powered. I designed mine so that the whole top section lifts off for access. They are mostly dormant by morning, apart from the Drinker Moth who was not at all happy I have actually ordered an LED UV bulb, and I am hoping to run that from a solar set up, so it's a) Free to run, and b) Goes off on it's own accord. That will be the first solar one I've ever seen if it works. This current set up cost me £20.

 

[spudhead]

very nice Kev looks good I was wondering what the trap looked like, I hope its pat tested so those little critters do not get a shock

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

very nice Kev looks good I was wondering what the trap looked like, I hope its pat tested so those little critters do not get a shock

Yes all secure and on an RCD. They will be fine anyway. If I get solar to work, no need

 

[Ralph]

Great shots from the 1st to the last. And some look quite close to what we have here also.
I want to get myself a macro lens again as I enjoyed getting shot like this.
But I don't think they were as good. So something to aim for and this is a good challenge as well.
Very well done.

 

[Paul stuart]

excellent kev a good selection of moths some can be pretty and unusal looking

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

Great shots from the 1st to the last. And some look quite close to what we have here also.
I want to get myself a macro lens again as I enjoyed getting shot like this.
But I don't think they were as good. So something to aim for and this is a good challenge as well.
Very well done.

Thanks Ralph. I suspect it's going to be addictive. I'll be putting the trap out again tonight.

@ Paul. Cheers