Bound, as I am, to fulfil my weekly commitment to the Garden Moth Survey, I have been eyeing the weather forecast with some trepidation. Friday night looks a washout, and even Saturday night might be. Last night looked marginally better, so I lined the bottom of the trap with kitchen paper to soak up any excess water, and put it out.
By late evening there was a light drizzle, and at 01.00 I was awoken by rain on the window. I managed to get back to sleep but by 05.30 I was awake again, worrying about the moths. I knew that heavy rain was due at around dawn, and I finally cracked at 06.30 and went to have a look.
The rain had stopped and there was a Brimstone Moth on the window. I found things to do until 06.50 when I had another look and saw the first wasp crawling along the edge of the box. Time to act. I turned the light off, flicked off the wasp and hauled the trap indoors. Five minutes later the rain arrived in earnest.
The trap contained eight Lunar Underwings and a Setaceous Hebrew Character (and another wasp). Not brilliant but better than nothing and although some of the egg boxes were soggy, no moths had drowned.
My reward for all this angst was waiting on the wall of the house. A Black Rustic was braving the increasingly terrible weather, my first this year.
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| Black Rustic |
I only hope next Friday is drier.
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