Tag Archives: moth trapping

Moth trapping on Portway Hill

We had very successful moth trapping event on Portway Hill last month, with 29 moth species recorded as well as 2 shield bugs – see below for the full list and some photos. Thank you to Richard Orton of Sandnats for organising the event and bringing along his moth traps, and to Dave and Wendy Yale at Portway Farm for giving us permission to use their field for the event.

Wainscot Smudge

Pied Smudge

White-shouldered House Moth

Brown House Moth

Dingy Dowd

Light Brown Apple Moth

Common Yellow Conch

Mother-of-Pearl

Yellow Shell

Grey Pine Carpet

Phoenix

Common Marbled Carpet

Green Carpet

Double-striped Pug

Brimstone

Dusky Thorn

Spectacle

Copper Underwing agg.

Vine’s Rustic

Lunar Underwing

Centre-barred Sallow

Common Wainscot

Flame Shoulder

Large Yellow Underwing

Lesser Yellow Underwing

Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing

Square Spot Rustic

Setaceous Hebrew Character

Yponomeuta sp.

Hawthorn Shield bug

Red-legged Shield bug

A successful haul at the Rowley Hills’ first moth evening

Leave a reply

On Friday evening (31st August) we set up two Mercury Vapour moth traps in the old quarry at the top of Bury Hill Park. In all we lured 14 different species of moth to the traps. The two that there were most of were Large Yellow Underwing and Square-spot Rustic. Chinese Character and Mouse Moth were nice to see.

Richard Orton and Tom Hartland-Smith put on a really interesting event, explaining about the different traps that are used to lure moths and the most useful books to use for identification. The ten people who attended enjoyed a great evening and learned a lot from the experience and we look forward to further events like this in 2019.

Portway Hill moth night (image © Mike Poulton)

Moth night!

Leave a reply

We’ve added another great event to our autumn line-up – a Moth night on Portway Hill, Friday 31st August 2018, 8:30pm – 10:00pm. Come and join the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham & the Black Country for an exciting night of moth trapping up on the Rowley Hills. All welcome and no prior knowledge needed. Due to the Wildlife Trust having not previously surveyed the site for moths every record will be a new one for the hillside and site! This site is renowned for rare butterflies so we hope it will offer similar delights for moths. Walking boots are recommended and please bring a torch if you have one available. Meet at St Brades Close, B69 1NX, West Midlands. Please note this is a residential parking area so please park respectfully with the local residents in mind.If you are planning on attending can you please email Tomh@bbcwildlife.org.uk to express interest.