Moths and Memories.

[nomad]

Although the species mentioned here are British, the collecting techniques are universal and most collectors of moths will be familiar with them. All of the moths in this article occur across the rest of Europe and some are found right across the Palarctic zone into Japan. Here are some of my best memories of collecting moths and this would be a good thread to share your best moth stories.

Bole collecting.

I have watched the recent video where Tom [beetlehorn] very successfully tree taps or searches their trunks for the marvellous array of large Catocala species in America. My tree trunk or bole searching was for smaller less spectacular species, but nonetheless interesting moths. When searching, I did not tap my trees because the species I was usually searching for were the pretty little Geometridae, which if disturbed by a sudden movement would invariably fly straight upwards and disappear among the foliage. By this method, I collected a number of local moths which for some reason never visited by powerful Robinson Mercury vapour Moth Trap, which I operated at times in the same forest.

My fondest memory of bole searching was one glorious summers day in June. I arrived at forest very early, after walking up a long hill from the bus-stop in the nearby town. I found It was best to begin searching before the sun reached its highest point, although the moths on the tree trunks often moved into the shadow away from the glare, in the morning the north side was best. The large tall and graceful Beech trees with their smooth bark was the easiest trees to search, but even on these the moths were often superbly camouflaged and the trick was to spot them before they took flight upwards, the Geometridae were very wary, probable due to frequent attacks by small birds like the Treecreepers. I never boxed my small specimens, I always held my large round net with a very short handle by end of the bag over the moths and hopefully my chosen prey would end up there, sometimes they did and sometimes they did not. I began searching the trees, but for quite a while drew a blank, my first find was not a moth, but a large Tawny Owl peering down at me in surprise through half closed eyes. Getting my eye in, I found a couple of the common Mottled Beauty [ Alcis repandata ], but I did not collect these, I had a long series of this moth, which I had taken at light, showing the huge range of variation in the forewing pattern. Then I began to find better things that were new to me. My next find was the closely allied species the Square-spot [ Paradarisa consonaria] a local moth. In a short while, I took another, but this time a female. What you really need for bole searching is patience, which thankfully I have in plenty because you can go for long periods and see nothing. Quite high up on the trunk of a Beech, I spotted another new moth, the lovely very local and scarce Cloaked Carpet [Euphyia biangulata]. They are many allied carpet species to this one in the Geometridae, that may seen similar in the books, but are not in reality. E. biangulata is well named with a lovely rich chocolate cloak across the forewings with a white background. When you find this Carpet moth in the wild, you know it at once. I was eager to obtain this species for my collection, but how, it was a few feet above my head and damn, I had left my long handled net at home. I made a attempt, but missed and the moth went up into the higher branches. I, was undaunted, you will always lose some, that 's the thrill of the chase. I got out my little notebook and made my usual notes, species, time, place and the area of the forest. My little notebooks help me remember those better collecting days.

My next find was even more interesting, I noticed a small pretty white Geometridae with orange markings across the tips of the forewings on a sycamore trunk, which I remember seeing in my Richard South moth book, could it be, getting closer I knew it was a Blomer's Rivulet [ Discoloxia blomeri] a scarce moth of northern and western Britain, whose larve feed on Wych Elm. This moth was a real rarity for my county and it was last seen there in this forest nearly 90 years ago. Nervously I approached the small moth, it flinched, the moth made an attempt at flight, but too slow, the prize was in my net, a perfect specimen. I was pleased will my capture, but not as pleased as my county moth recorded, and as far as I know, no other specimen has been reported in the forest since and in spite of numerous attemps I never found another. Soon afterwards I found another Cloaked Carpet[ E. biangulata] lower down and this time I was successful in capturing this moth. It was getting really hot and the sun overhead was high in the sky, time for rest, some lunch and a visit to a valley bottom in the forest to search for butterflies where I found a fine series of the sooty day flying Chimney Sweeper Moth [ Odezia atrata] flying among the long grass, a species, that resembles no other British insect. This rounded off a perfect days collecting.

Next Sugaring memories.

[nomad]

I know that you can have a fascinating night out with lamps especially with muggy rainy nights in Tropical countries, but is there no other stories of special memories of nights out with moths or days for that matter to share? Perhaps your quest for a rare sought after species? or a special visit or adventure to look for a rare moth? Even what collecting method you prefer. Any larvae hunting stories. I thought there was a lot of moth field collectors out there who would have interesting stories to relate.

[miguel]

I´ll always remember,April 1992 when one night while I was walking in my hometown, a small village in Andalusia,Spain,I saw my first Graellsia isabelae female resting in a wall and few meters away 3-4 males attracted by the queen of the european moths,and I remember I inmediatly began to jump trying to catch them(I was 15 years old).

Miguel

[nomad]

Hi Miguel, that must have been some sight, what a species Graellsia isabellae is, you are lucky to have that in your country.

[nomad]

Sugaring.

I cannot say I ever was a great fan of sugaring , but having read the glorious accounts of the great rarities collected by the Victorian collectors and long before I got myself a light trap, I had to use all the methods of catching moths at my disposal. Perhaps, I do not have fond memories of sugaring because I never was lucky enough to obtain a rarity. Being young, I was limited to sugaring my local patch. Gosh, I used to drive my mum mad with asking for the ingredients for my sugaring mixture and she used to prepare my concoctions of black treacle, brown sugar and beer. You had to put just the right amount of beer in your sticky mixture, you wanted your moths tipsy and easy to catch, not drunk, or while they were feeding they would fall to the ground where they were easy prey for the hedgehogs who on occasions used to frighten me to death by their weird calls as they shuffled around after a meal of a plump moth in the dark night.

I did try sugaring in a local forest, but perhaps on the wrong nights, the results were poor. I usually had to make do with a line of posts along the edge of a nearby rough field near a urban area. The best nights were warm muggy nights in July and August. It was useless to sugar on moonlit nights and later I found the same applies to light trapping for moths. I remember a few good nights were at my sugaring patches, the moths were jostling shoulder to shoulder in the eagerness to have a feed. In my area I found most of these moths to be common species of the large family of Noctuinae. Here were moths such as Large Yellow Underwing [ Noctua pronuba] Dark Arches [ Apamea monoglypha] Cabbage Moth [ Mamestra brassicae] and The Dot moth [ Melanchra persicariae]. Species that did not excite the heart of a young collector. On a few occasions I did take some pretty species for my collection such as the Peach Blossom [ Thyatira batis ] and its cousin the Buff Arches [ Habrosyne pyritoides]] from the Thyatiridae family. The night I most remember was a warm night in late summer when on my posts there were five Red Underwings [ Catocala nupta] and one of the equally large Old Lady Moth [ Mormo maura] my first specimen of this species.

I wonder if anybody still uses this method of obtaining moths or has, or do most collectors now rely on their Moth Traps?
Next My Moth Trap. Peter.

[vgashtarov]

This is very short report from our visit in F.Y.R.of Macedonia 08 - 10 March 2013- very successful trip in fact. We came back with 4 new species for Maceonia for only 3 days. During the night we collected both on lamps ( actinic and ultraviolet ) and sugar bait. The success came from sugar bait of coarse - among all the Orthosia there were many Litophane ledereri. One interesting ting: Litophane ledereri is not visiting light very often, but if you put sugar bait (if you live in Bolcans) and if near by is the food plant - Platanus orientalis you  can collect numbers of this interesting species. Last October I have collected my first autumn L. ledereri together with L. merckii and Xylena lunifera - another very interesting moths. Pictures were made near Demir Kapija (Macedonia).
 

[nomad]

Hi Vgashtarov, thank you for sharing your fascinating pictures and your report of your field trip. You had a very successful time. What ingredients did you use for your sugaring mixture. Lately I have become very interested again in moths and plan a number of field trips next year. I am going to try sugaring again in some better localities, such as the New Forest, where I plan a week's holiday. P.S I like your idea, of a suspended piece of wood with the sugaring mixture on it, not always essential to find a row of tree trunks!

[vgashtarov]

Dec 21, 2013 1:45:00 GMT -8 nomad said:

Hi Vgashtarov, thank you for sharing your fascinating pictures and your report of your field trip. You had a very successful time. What ingredients did you use for your sugaring mixture. Lately I have become very interested again in moths and plan a number of field trips next year. I am going to try sugaring again in some better localities, such as the New Forest, where I plan a week's holiday.

Thank you Nomad ! Well for sugar bait nothing really special : sugar and red wine (I use of my own home wine harvest). When I'm in the mood to improvise I add a few rotten bananas and belgian brown sugar. But last one is not really necessary. Bananas it seems are very important and moths (and not only) like them a lot. What I noticed : best results are in early spring (almost all Orthosias, Litophane, Xylena etc.) and late autumn (Agrochola, Polymixis, Dichonia, Xylena etc. etc. etc.).
For Catocala and Mormo - best place is  close to the river beds, where willows and poplar trees grows. Here I prefer small rivers with rich vegetation, results can be amazing if you visit the right place.

[nomad]

Hi Vgashtarov. Very interesting information, I shall certainly try rotten bananas with my mixture. You are very successful in your sugaring and it is nice to see this method is still being used successfully today. Do you think that sugaring here in the U.K, is effected by our colder climate. I shall try sugaring for the early moths,and also visit the catkins of the Sallow bushes in March. The U.K. is poor in Catocala species but we do have two very local ones, C. promissa and C. sponsa, which are now more or less confined to the large Oak Woods in the New Forest of Hampshire. Peter.

[vgashtarov]

I think Michael Fibiger was one who said once to a friend of mine : One night (hunt) is not complete without sugaring :-)

I think you will be glad of the results of the sugar bait. Some species rarely or never visit light traps. One important ting, sugaring must be placed right after sunset and it works best next 2 hours.

[rumina]

I've never tried it with sugaring , despite all my Italian colleagues push me to try. I knew that for Catocalinae is crucial. next year I'm forced to try, and I thank you .............. for advice on the mixture to use.

regarding hunting memories I can not forget a night in Luguria the border with France. was October 25 , and we started with the "full moon" ( crazy things ) . after six hours of driving we arrived and we arranged six moth tramps along the trail ( 10 km long ) . We have incredibly focused all the species that we hoped to find but that's not all , are in fact arrive four Gorthina Borelii (huge and perfect ), two Onychora agaritharia (female ! ) and several Compsoptera opacaria ( all forms ) . These findings were the first to Italy and even today in Modena some older collectors ask me if I have a Borelii for them. In addition to this we found polymixis angilaceago hundreds etc ....... I could go on for hours ............... Well the next haunting moth traps we collected and we took the road home . another six hours by car. do not say I'm crazy .....

[vgashtarov]

Not crazy Rumina - just you are infest with the Lepidoptera virus :-)
This is another story of mine and perhaps the most scary and terrifying memory up to now. Honestly, don't want to feel anything like this.
It was October 1, 1993 or 1994. A friend call me that time and told me, he has visited Zemen gorge, the name of the railway stop is Skakavitza. This is an very interesting place very wild, and the village is 2 km. far from the train stop - so no human beings during the night. By the way, this is one of this places where hog nosed adder is literally everywhere, but this story is not about snakes. So, my friend told me he has collected Lemonia balcanica and Trichiura verenae. Both species were of my interest that time. And just before to close the phone he told me "Ah yes, forgot to tell you - there was murder near the station". It was 10 in the morning, had some time to prepare my bag and to take the train, because no other transport is going there. I arrived at sunset, get electricity from an old and abandoned shop and prepare my "bed"on the counter of the shop. I was all by my self. Lots of interesting moths came that night Lemonia and the Trichiura also visited my lamp. But when become cold, late and so very dark I remember what my friend told me about the murder...I was just trying not to think about this. In one moment I decide to go to sleep and left the lights on - it wasn't that scary that way. At some point I fell asleep..maybe 2 or 3 hours later something happened. Something very bad. Next few moments many tings has happened. All the building was shaking of some noise, I open my eyes and first ting I noticed : it was dark ! I remember I left lights on, my heart was jumping and I was so close to die of fear. I thought that the murder came for me...after few seconds I realize that while I was sleeping I covered my head with the sleeping bag because of cold. Few seconds later I realized that the room was empty and the lights were still on. The sound and vibrations of the passing train who shake the windows of the building that woke me up ... all was OK. Just while I was sleepy because of the sound of the passing train I played the scariest movie in my mind. Next morning, when workers arrived, I asked about the murder..they explain that there was no murder, just some mental jump from the nearest rock and suicide him self.

[nomad]

Great collecting stories, I enjoyed reading them. It is a passion, which drives moth collectors into the darkest woods and mountains at night. I have wild camped alone in many mountains in Scotland, but was not then collecting moths, and because I was a long way from habitation, I always felt safe, we have no large predators here except man. I have often operated a M.V. trap alone in a large forest and because there is no other light source, it lit up an area of the forest up with a blue glow that must have resembled to those not in the know, something unusual, perhaps a spaceship had finally landed. I had two nocturnal visits from People coming to investigate the strange light. Once I was asleep in my tent, when I heard voices, was I dreaming, no there were people talking outside, but they seemed to be getting fainter. Getting out, I walked to a nearby ride to see a number of torches beams going from side to side along the track, they soon disappeared around the corner. I never did find out who those people were. Another time it had just got dark and in spite of the many moths flying around my light to fall into the large rounded black tub, I started to place it on a large white sheet to catch the Geometridae who did get into my trap, but others used to be content to sit around on the herbage nearby until I placed my sheet, so they could be more easily seen and boxed. I was busy boxing moths on my sheet, when I felt a presence behind me. Turning I saw a startled couple, wondering what I was doing. This was the 1970's when light trapping with a moth trap was not shown on many U.K. Natural History programmes like they are today and it was in the middle of the U.F.O craze. When I explained to them what I was about, they mentioned they had seen the light from the nearby road running through the forest and had come to investigate. They looked very disappointed that I was not a little green alien and they walked back down the track to the road, shaking their heads in disbelief . Nothing is as good as a very bright moth trap in a dark wood to advertise your presence.

[rumina]

dear friends, I start to think that when friends tell us that we are fools indeed we can not blame them.
after reading your experience that could be used by Spieberg for one of his films you would like to tell me that two episodes were reported by two great Italian explorers and entomologists .

The first happened in Calabria ( land torn by the Mafia .......... ......... unfortunately ) in the 80s. years were dangerous because many kidnappings took place in the hands of the Italian Calabrian mafia and seized were brought in Calabria in the mountains of Sila and Aspromonte. this madman had gone to Calabria in search of the legendary Apollo Parnassius pumilus , probably the rarest subspecies that survive in some remote canyons Aspromonte . on the way up in the woods feeling of movement around him , and suddenly he was captured by special forces of the police detective who thought he was a kidnapper and thought the net was a rifle. think about how long it took to explain to the police that he tried butterflies ! ! for the record those areas are still dangerous , I myself have visited and I have not seen the time I left, the feeling of not being quiet never lets you down .

The second experience was told to me by a great specialist of Noctuidae (I think one of the biggest in Europe) with a group entomological had the bright idea to hunt within the boundaries of Palestine , Israel and Jordan . I only say that they risked being killed by the rebels and the Palestinians have been saved by the blue helmets.

with this I think I can win the Oscar ...............

[rumina]

oh ... vgashtarov .... better than my brother does not know that you took the Balkan Lemonia, I think that would not sleep for three nights ....