NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

Any long-suffering and regular visitor to this blog will most probably be aware of my poor track record with pheromone lures. So far, in two years of trying, I have only managed to entice Six-belted Clearwing. I have questioned my timing, the weather and the lures themselves, but have been stopped from throwing them away in a fit of pique by other lepidopterists, who have also admitted to finding the success rate as being a bit hit-and-miss (we will ignore those clever-clogs who seem to haul in hundreds of the bloody things just by thinking about hanging a lure up). This morning was relatively warm, the cloud was parting to allow the sun to peak through from time to time and a gentle breeze came from the south-west. It might be early in the clearwing season, but the odd one has been reported, so I threw caution to the wind and headed over to the Carshalton area of northern Surrey, where I knew of two nailed-on sites. I was joined by the man on-the-spot, Derek Coleman. Carshalton...

I'm developing a hatred of pheromones. I've spent too many hours staring at the bloody things hanging from a tree/bush/stick waiting for the patter of tiny wings to arrive. Today I targeted a good area of young birch (for White-barred Clearwing), cleared birch (for Large Red-belted Clearwing) and oak parkland (for Yellow-legged Clearwing). I know that one of the sites I visited has recorded the target species before (including last weekend) - so what am I doing wrong? The flight times are OK. The habitat is OK. I've started to wonder if my pheromone bungs have not been impregnated with the magical chemicals at all! But, having said that, I know that my Six-belted Clearwing lure works OK as that provided my sole success last summer. I'm leaving the lure out for 20-30 minutes. It's always been a sunny day (with at least a slight breeze). I'm beginning to lose patience... but, of course, I must not give in. Today wasn't a moth-free zone as I recorded the ...