No trapping at all this week.
The weather has been poor the whole time, either too cold, or blowing a gale. A couple of nights have been down to -2 degrees. I'm sort of giving myself a temperature limit to warrant the trap out, and that is 5 degrees+ at the onset of darkness. Most of this last week it has been only 3 or 4 degrees or cooler. The full moon hasn't helped things either.
Things look to continue in this vein for at least the next 4 or 5 days...
I think moth trappers are a bit like gardeners when it comes to weather forecasts. Its just never quite good enough...
I work along the same 'minimum temp to bother' approach in the garden, but I also consider the wind. In the early and late season, my garden has proven time and again that low temps on clear still nights or reasonable temps with high wind are pants. A bit of light rain usually doesn't affect things too badly - I just don't like emptying a wet trap with bedraggled moths. On the nights you leave the trap off, in all probability all you are likely to miss is a handful of quakers or suchlike. Even when out in woodland, there is a significant difference between nights that are >7C at dusk and anything cooler.
ReplyDeleteCheers Mark, The Robinson is good in wet weather. I've had it out in some significant overnight rain and it just goes straight through leaving the moths inside better off than those uncaptured. Egg trays even stay dry as a bone. Surely it cant be many weeks now until the temp rises from a daytime fixture of 5 or 6 degrees. Its wearing thin.
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