Serves me right really @Dovefromabove, I’m always telling people that hornets stings are no more painful than wasp stings and not to panic about them. Turns out I was right about the sting, but hadn’t factored in the possibility of anaphylactic shock! I now give them a wide berth!
I think you have a yellow underwing there as well! I got a moth trap last year, so have become a bit of an aficionado!
Possibly Lesser Yellow Underwing but they're pretty similar so hard to tell. My garden seems to have quite a few this year but I was putting that down to a byproduct of attracting lots of moths to the garden with the trap. Trapping has been really slow this year so far and I'm hoping it will pick up a bit next month. I can barely manage a handful of moths each night at the moment but I am gradually ticking off new species each time. Spring seems reluctant to start up here this year. A few miles down the road, and off the mountain, Spring is in full flow but the leaves are only just bursting here, despite the good weather.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
@wild edges yes I think you are probably right with it being a lesser. Ive found a couple of them here, not sure if its because its a very good year for them or just that Im no more adept at recording recognising them. Only getting a handful in the trap here too, presumably its just very early in the season, but we only got ours last summer so haven't had a spring to compare it against yet
It’s a bit of a Heath Robinson affair but it does the job brilliantly.
I'm sure this must be the favourite joke of moth trappers
What bulb does yours use? Mine's only got a 20w UV bulb so maybe it doesn't compete with light pollution too well? The serious trappers seem to have much brighter lights. At least I'm not upsetting the neighbours with mine though. The lady next door did collar me the other day to enquire what I was looking for in the garden late at night but we have good chats about wildlife and stuff so she was more curious than annoyed.
Have you read 'Much ado about mothing'?
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
I'm sure this must be the favourite joke of moth trappers
I hadn't even thought of it lol
Mine is 20w too, there isn't really any other light here to compete with though. Last summer we were getting probably 50-100 moths a night most of the time, and have logged 93 species so far, along with a regular helping of wasps, hornets and beetles. Not sure I could cope with the amount a brighter light would bring!
I'll have to have a look for Much Ado about Mothing, the title alone has sold it to me!
When I used to help with this for the council down in Hampshire we used a Mercury vapour bulb. Partly because it had to run off a generator so power was limited. But also because of the colour of the light it produced.
I'm not sure what the power of it was, but it was very very bright, not something you could use in a built up area without upsetting people.
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Mine is 20w too, there isn't really any other light here to compete with though. Last summer we were getting probably 50-100 moths a night most of the time, and have logged 93 species so far, along with a regular helping of wasps, hornets and beetles. Not sure I could cope with the amount a brighter light would bring!
I'll have to have a look for Much Ado about Mothing, the title alone has sold it to me!
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
seen a good few butterflies here @Dovefromabove but not unusual amounts so far