The Emperor moth, Saturnia pavonia.
Apr 20, 2017 9:23:57 GMT
deliasfanatic, mygos, and 4 more like this
Post by nomad on Apr 20, 2017 9:23:57 GMT
Emperor moth, Saturnia pavonia,
I decided this year to buy a pheromone lure for the beautiful emperor moth, Saturnia pavonia, our only species of the Saturniidae family. I had never seen this species up close and I wanted to get some decent images of them, I mean the males of course, the female fly by night and sit about during the daytime. I decided to try Greenham Common in Berkshire because I was going by train and its on the edge of the growing town of Newbury.
Remember Greenham Common, a former RAF base where those Nuclear missiles were based and where lots of like minded women set up a peace camp for twenty years and as many as 70,000 protesters once linked arms and chained themselves to the perimeter fence in the 80s and the early 90s. Today, the RAF and the crowds have gone ; the former heathland was all but destroyed expect for two remaining pockets, the runways have been removed and most of the area has returned to grassland with lots of gorse bushes, covering the common in gold during the Spring. The nuclear silos remain, they are listed buildings today and a reminder that humans find it extremely difficult to live in peace together.
Still back to entomology, the weather was sunny but cool with a stiff and strong north-easterly blowing, I had no luck at the first four sites I tried and almost gave up but thought I go back to the first site in the middle of the afternoon where there was an area of good lowland heath, heather with birch trees. I hung my lure (looks like the tip of an orange color crayon) on a Small Birch in a bag with holes and hey presto I had three males arrive together in the first ten minutes, they fly direct at speed. In flight if you are lucky to spot one without a lure, I did not, the colourful males look like nymphalid. No collecting is permitted on Greenham Common, it is a SSSI and a local nature reserve.
I decided this year to buy a pheromone lure for the beautiful emperor moth, Saturnia pavonia, our only species of the Saturniidae family. I had never seen this species up close and I wanted to get some decent images of them, I mean the males of course, the female fly by night and sit about during the daytime. I decided to try Greenham Common in Berkshire because I was going by train and its on the edge of the growing town of Newbury.
Remember Greenham Common, a former RAF base where those Nuclear missiles were based and where lots of like minded women set up a peace camp for twenty years and as many as 70,000 protesters once linked arms and chained themselves to the perimeter fence in the 80s and the early 90s. Today, the RAF and the crowds have gone ; the former heathland was all but destroyed expect for two remaining pockets, the runways have been removed and most of the area has returned to grassland with lots of gorse bushes, covering the common in gold during the Spring. The nuclear silos remain, they are listed buildings today and a reminder that humans find it extremely difficult to live in peace together.
Still back to entomology, the weather was sunny but cool with a stiff and strong north-easterly blowing, I had no luck at the first four sites I tried and almost gave up but thought I go back to the first site in the middle of the afternoon where there was an area of good lowland heath, heather with birch trees. I hung my lure (looks like the tip of an orange color crayon) on a Small Birch in a bag with holes and hey presto I had three males arrive together in the first ten minutes, they fly direct at speed. In flight if you are lucky to spot one without a lure, I did not, the colourful males look like nymphalid. No collecting is permitted on Greenham Common, it is a SSSI and a local nature reserve.
The lure was bought from 
