The world's largest moth trap!

During my teens I was just as interested in butterflies and moths as I was birds. One memorable experience was finding my first Red Underwing Catocala nupta on my paper round and my friend Sam Woods, who did a paper round nearby, actually twitching it! My interest in Lepidoptera waned as I became more fascinated with birds, but my trip last month to Brazil's Atlantic Forest has reignited my interest, and I found myself spending just as much time mothing and butterflying (??) as I did birding.

My good friend Peter Alfrey has also become interested in flying things with scaly wings. Last night Rachel and I went for a meal at his flat, dubbed the Obs, which overlooks his local patch, Beddington Farmlands - one of London's best birding sites. I want to buy a moth trap and wanted some advice, but what I found is that Pete, being Pete, had taken things to another level!

In true Lepidoptera fashion, Pete's two bedroom flat has undergone a complete metamorphosis! Where once there was a bedroom, there is now the world's largest moth trap! Gone is the bed, and instead there is a moth trap, a net, shelves full of sampling containers, a pooter, a holding tank for photographing moths, books, cameras and a laptop and microscope. Even though Pete lives in a flat, attracting moths is easy - place the moth trap on the window sill, open the window, close the door, and what you have is an en suite walk-in moth trap! Situated right on the very edge of Beddington Farmlands, moths from miles around make an, ahem, mothline, towards Pete's flat!

Moths caught during the evening include 1 The Shark Cucullia umbratica, 1 The Clay Mythimna ferrago, 1 Silver Y Autographa gamma, a few Heart & Club Agrotis clavis, a Rustic spp. possibly The Rustic Hoplodrina blanda, 1 Riband Wave Idaea aversata and lots of Common Footman Eilema lurideola.

For more about mothing at the Obs and Beddington Farmlands see Pete's blog.

The Shark Cucullia umbratica

The Clay Mythimna ferrago

Riband Wave Idaea aversata

Heart & Club Agrotis clavis

The Rustic Hoplodrina blanda?

All this has got me even more fired up for mothing, although I am slightly concerned about Pete. He now sleeps on the sofa, no longer has a fridge, and is starting to bear an uncanny resemblance to Dr. Emmett Brown - see the pic below then watch this.

Great Scott!! I do believe this moth is a shark!

Admiring The Shark, which is actually a moth