Every time I stumble upon a moth it is such an enjoyable moment for me. I study its wing pattern, the coloration, observe how big or small it is, and generally appreciate it for the beautiful expression of Nature that it is. I would like to find more moths, and at this time, I don’t feel like using…

I’ve experimented with various ways of finding moths without light so here are some ideas street lamp method sometimes I can chance upon moths resting near street lamps (particularly geometrids and a lot of the micro moths). Plume moths are another one that’s usually easy to find resting on fences…

I occasionally stumble upon moths while I’m walking in the woods, mostly when I’m looking closely at something, like this observation when I was looking at the tree for mosses. I see moths resting on the vegetation, too, or at flowers. Ditto for caterpillars. Sometimes I see them resting under brid…

You can look around other people’s lights/on the ground underneath them. Lights on at night effectively function as light traps and have higher insect densities around them during the day. Dead moths often drop near lights too.

[image] tisli: Are there places where moths can generally be found resting during the day? There are diurnal moths on flowers https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/117005597 and sometimes they land in a driveway https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/200467635 or try to hide in leaf litt…

Beating trees should find you some: hold a butterfly net, a beating tray or an upside-down umbrella under a slender branch and whack the top of the branch with a stick. All sorts of invertebrates will fall out. There is also sugaring. You make a mix of treacle, wine, various components and paint it…

It’s been a long while since I’ve been wandering in a city. Windows that have been well lit the night before. In corners and between blocks/bricks on buildings. Behind light fixtures and downspouts. Flat on buildings, much like lynnharper shows on a tree. I read an article on moths that said the pol…

One way is to keep the caterpillars until it becomes a moth. That is a lengthy process of 2-3 weeks maybe for 1 observation. This is to make a link between the caterpillar and adult moth. Moths are sometimes found on old walls during the day. It is found on the the bark of big trees. On the undersi…

Thank you all for contributing. Together, you have come up with quite a few things that I had never heard or thought of. Thanks!

[image] mothdragon: just grabbing a net with small holes and running around like a madman at night with a torch to intercept any night flying moths, works surprisingly well but a bit awkward Would there be any pics of this method out there by any chance?

I would be cautious of doing some of these in the city, such as running around with a net. These are strange times and some people might consider you a threat, especially if you walk toward them with a net if they challenge you.

Yeah that’s something else to take into consideration, usually for me the only times I’ve ever done it are in either dense woodland without many people around, a residential area without many people around (when i was trying to catch chafers flying around tree-tops) and in my own garden.

Finding moths without tools like lights or traps

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Finding moths without tools like lights or traps

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