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'Moth Watch',
by Emily Alexander
Get the pdf here
As far as I’m concerned the moth watch was a complete success, we saw
carpets, footmen, waves and a large variety of other moths. Because of
this large variety I have only chosen a few to write about.
We set up two stations; one was a box in which the moths could not
escape from, this proved very successful as we managed to capture moths
of all kinds. Our other station was a large white sheet with a lamp
behind it to attract moths that would not become trapped, but simply
for us to look at and identify them.
Below is a selection of the moths we saw:
Straw dot
(top right) - length: 5-10mm approx, colour: yellow with black dots,
observations: stayed still for a few minutes then moved on.
Riband wave
(middle) - length: 27-30mm, colour: gold or transparent silver with
brown line patterns, observations: stayed very still until more of his
kind came along (possibly of the opposite sex).
Pale prominent
(bottom) - length: 15-25mm, colour: yellowish brown head brownish green
body, observations: stayed very still and close to the ground.
 
Other moths we saw included: brimstone, flame shoulder, dingy footman
and common carpet.
Now that you know about what we saw I will tell you about what I
thought of the whole thing. It was great, there was a friendly
atmosphere and it was really nice getting to know everyone. It was
fantastic there were so many! I learnt that moths can be spotted
during the day and that there is a whole other world of micro-moths. I
also learnt the difference between a dingy and a buff footman, none of
which I had ever even heard of before!
'Bat
Watch', by Leora Alexander
 When
we got to the church where the moth watch would take place I had no
idea that we would also be looking at bats (that is a good
thing).
I can’t tell you much about the bats we saw because we weren’t able to
know for sure what species they were. Though some came close as soon as
they were there they were gone, just like that!
But I can tell you some of the call frequency range kHz numbers we
picked up on the bat detector. So I will list them and say what they
could have been. At the beginning we picked up a range of 20-30 that
could have been: Leisler’s, serotine, noctule or barbastelle .. Then
later we picked up a call frequency of 58 that could have been: common
pipistrelle or Natterer’s. We had a dead on 40 that could have been:
common pipistrelle or Leisler’s .. Then round the end we picked up
56-67 and these calls could have been by: Daubenton’s or Brandt’s.
Now you know about what we possibly saw I want to tell you about what
it was like to be there. It got dark really quick and I don’t think
many people noticed until it was pitch black. We were all sitting down
until about 10 minutes into the night. That was when people started
looking in the moth box .. Then I saw some of the group go down a long
path and me, Emily and a very nice lady followed them over a small
bridge and down a path to a big meadow with grass up to my neck to find
the others who had picked up a bat signal on the bat detector then we
walked back to join the others.
I looked at some moths and then found myself more interested in bats
and we saw lots of bats (after first detecting them) and then to make
our day a lovely shooting star went by.
Then we sat down and just looked up and saw hundreds of bats flying
past, and as soon as you know it, it’s time to go!
If you would like to share your
sightings of bats & moths in the area, we would appreciate your contribution using our
Nature Recording Form.
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