Mothing Advice Please

[Kymba]

I am doing a Mothing party on saturday for a group of 9 year olds. As it is only a 3 hour party. I was going to hang a sheet from some trees with a torch behind it, and also a few socks dipped in a sweet mixture ( have recipe I got from moth site). My question is the party is from 6.00 till 9.00pm. It doesn't start to get dark until about 7.45 what are my chances of these things attracting moths?? I don't want to dissapoint 20 9 years olds!!

[Adam Cheeseman]

Very slim I'm afraid. You'll need one hell of a torch for it to be effective and also the macro moths are always out later than the micros that tend to show up first. You'll need to be up until 11pm to get any reasonable amount of moths I'm afraid. I'm doing National Moth Night for the public on Friday and we aren't starting until 9pm and that's with an MV trap. If it's cold then you can expect even less. Sorry.

Adam

[Jenny W]

When I'm running moth events (2 different ones over national moth night - I'm going to be knackered by the end of it!) I always make sure I've done some trapping for the previous few nights and save any good specimens in the fridge in case the actual night is poor weather or catches. You could try this if it's possible?

[Kymba]

Ok Thanks Guys. I didn't think it would be that successful.
Jenny cheers for that tip. I get lots here at home at night because of the outside light I have on for the dogs, so I may keep some from that.. How long can they be kept in the fridge and how cold should fridge be?? I don't want to kill them with the cold.

[Adam Cheeseman]

2 or 3 days is fine in a normal kitchen fridge.

Cheers,

Adam

[earthdragon64]

Another thing to check are plants that have Butterflies on them in the daylight, will often have Moths on them at night, as well as day-flyers during the day.

Also, if there is any ragwort nearby, it's worth checking the flowers, I regularly find Antler and Ear Moths on them, both day and night.

[Jenny W]

I've kept specimens in the fridge for up to two weeks before (only when necessary until I could get an identification) and they have been fine for that length of time, so you should be fine keeping any until Friday. My fridge is at 4.5C, which is fine - don't put them in the freezer though!

[Kymba]

Thanks Guys.. Will let you know how the party goes

[Bennyboymothman]

Macro moths will be on the wing sometimes before sundown, they are not necessarily late night-time flyers.
In fact i've been very succesful with Wainscots, Drinker's and Blackneck's at dusk time, a torch and a net is all you need.

But as it becomes cooler I'd stick with a more powerful light such as a 40w Actinic or MV

Good luck!

[thunder]

You could try 'dusking' - walking around in the twilight with a net, and catching any moths that you see. Try disturbing the surrounding vegetation. You get species by this method that don't come to light.

henrya