Welcome to the recording blog for the Carmarthenshire Moth and Butterfly Group. Could members please add any moth or butterfly records or any general items of interest by making a new post. Although everyone can comment on a post you will have to be a member to add a new post.
Friday, 15 June 2018
Crafty micros
How does everyone get the micros into a specimen tube without losing half of them? I've seen Pooters on line, do you use those or is there another method. I'm getting a bit frustrated with the little blighters escaping before I can get the tube over or slipping out the side of the tube from the egg boxes. All advice gratefully received!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
We all lose some, Jane, it's inevitable! If you can offload the trap in a room it helps, if one escapes it will generally head for a window. Having inverted a tube over a moth I generally try to slip a piece of thin card under it, but this isn't always easy when the moth's in an egg box well, as you say. Well done on the Clouded Buff, a lovely creature!
ReplyDeleteI always think that losing half the micros is a bonus: saves me hours of worthless effort trying to identify them and failing!
ReplyDeleteHa ha Steve! That's the way I will think in future. It's just so annoying when a strikingly marked moth, one that MUST be identifiable, streaks out under the tube and disappears into the wild blue yonder, leaving me with all the LBJs
ReplyDeleteSteve has a very good point! But hey, where are all these strikingly marked moths hiding? Most of mine are various shades of dull grey or brown which makes it a bit easier to bear when they escape.
ReplyDeleteI'm just glad to find that everyone else loses moths and isn't as nimble fingered as they'd like to be.
ReplyDeleteTry a piece of straw/grass and edge them into the pot.
ReplyDeleteEssential pieces of equipment for me are Magnum ice-cream 'sticks', the size and shape of these are ideal for gently slipping under a resting moth to move it. I find that most noctuids, in particular, are not unduly disturbed in the process. The downside is the need to keep a steady supply of Magnums in the freezer (when they're on offer in Tesco) and to consume them regularly.
ReplyDeleteI often use my pencil to move moths, but the micros are always so flighty I often lose them, but obviously most people do as well!
ReplyDelete