Come and join our ranger team in taking a closer look at moths: The mysterious visitors in the night.  Many people are afraid of moths or just annoyed with them for eating their clothing but the Moth is a sadly misunderstood creature.  More brightly coloured than butterflies, and capable of outwitting the bats that hunt them, moths are a fascinating and diverse group of creatures.  July and August are the peak months for moth emergence and moth trapping on the reserve has been catching some truly spectacular specimens.  Over 100 species have been found on the reserve so far this year and new additions to our list are being found in every trapping session.

If you’d like to see this bounty for yourself then come along and let us show you the marvels of the moth world.  We will be using light traps and sugar ropes to attract the moths to us and then get a closer look at them.  As many people know from their own experience, moths are attracted to light and we can use this to our advantage by using special light traps to catch them.  The moths hit the light and are stunned, sliding down a funnel into a plastic bucket filled with egg boxes where they can roost safely for the night.

Many moths are also attracted to rotting fruit where they feed, often getting quite drunk on the fermenting sugars!  We will be mimicking this by using a special mixture of sugar and alcohol to bring the moths in.  This technique can be quite persuasive to certain species of moths which don’t seem to be attracted to the light.

Our moth madness event starts at 9pm on Thursday the 25^th of August and lasts until 11pm Adults cost £6 and children £3.  We’ll start at the visitor centre and then walk up through the reserve to our trapping site.  As well as moths there’ll also be the chance to see lots of other night time wildlife on the reserve including bats, owls and maybe even badgers.

Lizy – Falls of Clyde Seasonal Ranger