Old Lady at Canonbie Moth trapping

Canonbie had been chosen as a host location because there are very few moth records from this part of the county. With the help of Mark Pollitt of DGERC, we borrowed traps and set them in different gardens around the village with the permission of volunteer villagers. We were helped by Joanne & Stuart at North Lodge B&B who acted as hosts and local contact.

 

Next morning, we returned to North Lodge to meet up with local moth experts and recorders to empty the traps, identify and record them for the county and national database.

 

Some of the locals stayed as they returned their traps to see what had been in their trap. They were surprised by the number and variety of moths and were not afraid to say they had been fascinated by the effect the light had attracting the insects to the boxes.

 

 

We caught so many species that it took some time to empty the first 3 traps and although nothing special turned up there were many species not previously recorded.

Large Yellow Underwings comfy in their egg boxes

 

 

A number of species were saved to a 'tank' for viewing but not many individual photos were taken.

 

 

As we started on the last few traps excitement was stirred by an announcement of 'There is an Old Lady in this trap!'

I have never seen so many experts stand up and peer into a moth trap in unison before.

 

 

The moth is listed as scarce on the D&G moth website. They do not usually come to light traps and therefore are rarely seen.

Everyone went to fetch their cameras!

The initial snaps were through plastic pots but before we finished many wanted a picture of the moth on a more natural background. This was the time when the restful moth decided to make a break for it and flew into a woodpile hiding place.

 

 

 

After 4 hours all the traps were finally emptied and everything packed away. Many thanks were given to our hosts for providing a space to meet up despite being a busy day at the B&B.

Many thanks go to the members of Eskdale Gardening Group for acting as volunteers and the experts for coping with the large numbers of moths which needed identification.

 

The full lists of species will be circulated to volunteers as soon as the County Moth Recorder has verified the identification of the difficult micro moths.