29 June, 2012

Money Saving Clearwing

Some of you may remember (how could you not?) that last year I bought a set of moth pheromones tailored specifically to attract the secretive, retiring family of moths known as Clearwings.

They worked to great success when I tried them in the garden during what can only be described as a very 'different' June, weatherwise. Clearwing lures work best on warm, sunny, breezy, with a slight breeze to carry the scent. I can think of many ways to describe the weather so far this summer, and those three words don't feature.

The other weekend saw a slight break in the clouds, producing just enough of a weather window to string the lures up in the garden, and encourage a few moths onto the wing.

Orange-tailed Clearwing- 4 of which turned up within the first 15 minutes...




Orange-tailed Clearwing (right) posing with a worn Yellow-legged Clearwing, the latter of which has probably colonised an Oak tree across the road from our garden...


This Red-tipped Clearwing showed up completely out of the blue later in the evening. It actually has its own lure specifically tailored for it, and shouldn't be respond to the 'VES' lure that I use. I'm definitely not complaining though, as it saves me a good tenner that would have been spent on buying the proper lure for it later in the year!

No comments: