Sunday 5 June 2016

Forester Moth

With half an hour to spare in this afternoon's sunshine, I called at Bernwood Meadows, Bucks to give the experimental pheromone lure for Forester a try.  The trial is not supposed to start until mid-June but the moth is normally flying at the sites in Bucks from late-May onwards so I thought I'd stand a good chance of seeing some action today.  Sure enough, even in that short period I saw six flying about and I have to say that they showed absolutely no interest at all in the lure!  Hardly surprising for one, a female who spent her time walking down stems of sorrel presumably looking for somewhere to lay eggs, but going by body shape the other five were all males who I would have thought would have responded.  Maybe it was too late in the day (3.30-4pm).

Forester female, Bernwood Meadows 5th June

Forester male, Bernwood Meadows 5th June

Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks 

3 comments:

  1. Are you going to try the lure again? Rather alarming if it doesn't work.

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  2. Oh yes! I haven't given up on it yet...

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  3. Seems like I'm not the only one having this problem. The trial has now been suspended.

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