Wishing for Spring...

[Rev. Redmond Farrier]

I have always hated Spring. It has always meant horrible allergy issues and that suffocatingly hot weather is just around the corner.
This year though, I feel as though I will go mad if it doesn't get here soon. I got into collecting just before things started to wind down for the season so I had just gotten a good taste of this hobby when nearly all the insects disappeared for the winter.
I could purchase specimens, but the hunter in me just won't accept anything that I don't catch myself.
Finding a leaf legged bug (Acanthocephala declivis if my research is accurate) the other day just made it worse.

Oh well, just a couple more months and things should get started again. Maybe sooner if we continue to have such mild weather.

Rev. R. Farrier

[wollastoni]

Rev< Now you are addicted like all of us ! We all wait the first lep of the year !!!

[nomihoudai]

With me it was pretty much the same thing, I started collecting in September and then decided that I might try to do some moth collecting...well I was not that succesfull at the end of October, got my first Eupsilia transversa back then.

There still is things to do in winter,depending on what you collect. In Lepidoptera I searched this winter for eggs of Thecla betulae and was succesfull. That tribe does not exist in your vicinity I think but you may be succesfull on searching Satyrium sp. Another thing I will do soon in Februay is looking for pupae of Phyllonorycter ssp., they overwinter as pupae in oak leaf mines.

If you like beetles, I found a few nice ones by pulling off the bark of some rotten trees, including some large violet Carabus, one of the largest beetles we have in my country.

[Deleted]

you can also dig for pupae, the best place to look is at the base of trees, start about a metre from the trunk, also under hedgerows and under long grass, you should find enough to occupy you for a couple of months and its great fun to see what comes out of the pupae you find.

[ckswank]

Another thing to do during winter is look for Saturnid cocoons. Many species attach themselves to twigs. The easiest time to find them is when the leaves are off the deciduous trees & shrubs such as oak, elm, willow, cherry, birch, maple, etc. I used to do that as a kid. I carried around a twig cutter on a long aluminum pole & rode around on my bicycle in my hometown, even when there was snow on the ground, looking up all the time!

[anthony]

Snowing this morning, yes spring seems a pleasant prospect.

[entoman]

I live in Florida. What is this thing you call "winter"? LOL.

[bluemoth]

I to look forward to spring and the first butterflies. Here on the west coast I busy myself with my captive Buckeye butterflies I rear in doors. Thier host plant dos not go doment in winter. So I can keep my stock going through winter. Look for my add in March for my speshal Buckeye pupa. I expect to have a new eye spot color form avalible in June Pupa. I also put up my light at night for winter hatching moths and if we get rain - Rain Beetles. Still a few fun things here in winter. Can always go looking under rocks and logs for ground beetles to.