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Moth Trap in the NZ garden
Latest Moths
February 2017
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The trap was put out with the Prolite 25W Black Light bulb and with the Sylvania Mini-Linx Blacklight 20W and stayed on all night.
Night temps were around 18 to 22 oC.
It has been a strange month with higher temperatures and extreme weather conditions. The weather has been very windy with night time gusts of 30 to 45 km/h on most nights coupled with rain. There has also be a few day time storms with heavy rain.
The numbers in the trap have diminished this month with very few moths or in fact anything else. There has been the odd night when 6 or 7 moths would be trapped but the species tended to be only 1 or 2 of any kind. Again, identification has been a major issue and there are still more unidentified moths (mostly micros) to be sorted somehow!.
However, I am about to start moving further afield and to that effect I have built another trap similar to the last one, and as I have two bulbs with me I can put them both out at the new locations to see what we can find.
It is strange fact that the only night we had a 'larger moth' (the Dasypodia cymatodes or Northern Wattle Moth) was at night as it was drawn to the room lights while the back door was open! This is a large moth and is similar to the Old Lady in the UK.
I have decided to create my own identification book and have been able to write one using the photographs I have taken so that I can quickly find those moths I have already seen (and forgotten about) as well as be able to leave copies with various organisations here to see if they can help.
The Monarch Butterfly tagging season has now started and shortly I will upload a complete set of pictures and text regarding the breeding/rearing and tagging of these wonderful large butterflies that gently float around me as I type this in the back garden in the sun!
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