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Variegated golden tortrix, Heesch, Netherlands
Our very first LepiLED result! Some background:
We'll soon embark on a trip to Madagascar and would like to do mothing there. However, Madagascar's power grid is sometimes unreliable and/or rationed. Furthermore, being constrained to grid power limits mobility. So we're preparing a mobile solution, which we first tested today in the garden:
https://scontent-amt2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/62605654_10157273853467692_1920029219455238144_o.jpg?_nc_cat=111&_nc_ht=scontent-amt2-1.xx&oh=cf47161fdb7c46dff691e504be847ca1&oe=5D835539
There's a cloth, a set of tent poles (consisting of sections so it can fit in luggage), and wires to keep up the cloth. This means we don't need a support structure like a building or tree to set up the cloth. This approach does not tolerate a lot of wind though, but we don't expect that to be a problem. In the case of rain, we do need a sheltered building.
Behind the middle of the cloth is a 3rd pole, where at the top is an iron hinge. From the hinge and a rope, the most important ingredient is placed: LepiLED.
LepiLED has a UV light, green light and white light that supposedly are optimized to attract moths. It is powered by a powerbank, the same one you may use to charge a smartphone on the go. You can put the light in mixed mode or UV-only mode, the latter uses far less energy.
Today's test in the garden was just to put the ingredients together and see if the structure holds up. We live in a low biodiversity urban area with lots of light pollution so the yield will be low no matter the light. Plus, it immediately started to rain yet before breaking down the setup we did get this one moth :)
I can't wait to see what this will do in Madagascar, I'm both excited and nervous about it.
''Archips xylosteana'', the variegated golden tortrix or brown oak tortrix, is a moth of the family Tortricidae.
comments (9)
To be honest, I have no idea. As always, I will come ill prepared. Meaning, without many targets. I do have a birds book and lemur guide. We'll of course try the mothing, and for the rest I'll just keep an open mind to anything.
One that is on top of my list is the aye-aye, the most epic lemur. We're attending a place where there's a chance to maybe see one, even though it's not 100% natural (lured by food).
It's not going to be comparable to the Colombia trips when it comes to new species. The guides are relatively poorly skilled, above all trained in the big attractions (lemurs and chameleons). It's going to be a big step backwards in that regard and as a result I'm expecting less photos and species.
I don't mean that as negative as it sounds, it's just that the Colombia 2018 standard we set is absurdly high as it comes to productivity. It was a maximum biodiversity habitat, incredible guides, and maximum time spent in the field. A thrilling combination that will be comparatively less in Madagascar. Less biodiversity, lesser guides, less hikes.
Mothing may be a way to somewhat counter that, or so I hope. I'll also try to do some more daytime macro (as usually the focus is on bigger wildlife).
Where I don't expect insane levels of biodiversity in our set to-be, for Madagascar the key thing for me to remember is that its biology is unique. 90% of wildlife is endemic. It is biologically the most unique place on the planet. So in a way, there's MANY opportunities for species not seen before, even if "just" a plant.
In other words, I have no idea what will happen :)
And then there's Ecuador 2020 as a plan :)
In any case we'll try our best! Posted 6 years ago
Although surely some rain forests in Asia may come close or match it, maybe Borneo. Perhaps also Central/West Africa like the Congo, but too unsafe, which breaks my heart. Posted 6 years ago