Even employing all the methods discussed under "searching", only a fraction of the moths of an area will be found. We need to make the moths come to us and there are several ways we can do this.
Sugaring
Moth hunters have traditionally used a method called "sugaring" to attract moths. This is very simple and can be employed to good effect in the garden. It involves preparing a sweet-tasting concoction, painting this on tree trunks, fence posts etc. and visiting these patches at intervals throughout the night. Every moth hunter has his own recipe for the mixture e.g. black treacle and molasses, but I have found that golden syrup with added sugar and a touch of alcohol (!) works quite well. The moths become almost drunk on the mixture and can then be approached quite closely as you can see with the Buff Arches opposite.
Wine Ropes
A method that is increasingly being used involves soaking lengths of cord in cheap red wine to which sugar is added and draping these wine ropes over vegetation. They are really another type of "sugaring".
Pheromones
The females of a number of species of moth emit a chemical scent or pheromone to attract males. In days gone by one of the methods of finding moths like the Emperor was to place a reared female in a muslin cage on the heather and wait for the males to be attracted. So powerful is this attraction they would come to an empty cage that recently contained a female.
It is now possible to purchase artificially produce pheremones for a number of species and these are being very succesfully used in the county to attract Clearwing moths - traditionally a very difficult family to study. Anglian Lepidopterist Supplies are a good source of these and an article on their use appears in our 2005 newsletter.
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