Tooting Common Launch 1

Friends of Tooting Common

Moths and bats watch,

1) How did we prepare?

Advertised along with the Friends of Tooting Commons inaugural walks taking place the
following day, on posters around the commons, in the café, and in the local newspaper
A total of four persons turned up at 8.30 pm
The weather was a bit on the cold side but dry with only a few clouds
We had pegs, white cloths, two hand-held torches, several specimen jars, one bat detector,
a moth book for identification, and found a suitable place in shadow
away from any light shed by street lamps
We pegged two white cloths onto bushes under the trees then, as it was still fairly light,
we walked through Graveney Woods to the cycle track with the bat detector
then returned to shine the torches on the moth watch cloths

2) What did we actually to?

We detected bats calling at 45 kHz
These were the common Pipestrellis pipistrellis
We saw two flying in the space between large trees and one or two more
flying about 50 metres away, again between large trees
We did not notice any moths fluttering around on our walk
We returned to the moth watch cloths and shone the lights
We found several small caterpillars or grubs and three bugs which we placed
in the specimen jar for later identification
(Rose put these in the fridge overnight with a leaf and later passed them to a
known biologist for identification if they have the time)
At 9.30 we decided to call off as there had been no sign whatsoever of moths
Our results matched many of the surveys taking place the same evening nationally

3) So what could we have done differently?

The weather conditions were probably too cool and this was reflected in reports
across the national survey
Finding caterpillars rather than adult insects may indicate the wrong time
in the life cycle for a moth watch
It might be useful to look at the vegetation in daylight beforehand and try to predict
which insects would be using it for food source, egg laying, cocoons, etc
Finding other bugs was a very interesting diversion
Moths might be more inclined to approach an ultra violet light than an ordinary torch light
An easier way would be to use a moth-trap left outside overnight for
leisurely identification in the morning

	Moths and bats watch, Saturday evening, 15 May 2010 Between Birchwood Road and Church Lane, Furzedown Participating in the National Moth Watch

1) How did we prepare? Advertised along with the Friends of Tooting Commons inaugural walks taking place the following day, on posters around the commons, in the café, and in the local newspaper A total of four persons turned up at 8.30 pm The weather was a bit on the cold side but dry with only a few clouds We had pegs, white cloths, two hand-held torches, several specimen jars, one bat detector, a moth book for identification, and found a suitable place in shadow away from any light shed by street lamps We pegged two white cloths onto bushes under the trees then, as it was still fairly light, we walked through Graveney Woods to the cycle track with the bat detector then returned to shine the torches on the moth watch cloths

	2) What did we actually to? We detected bats calling at 45 kHz These were the common Pipestrellis pipistrellis We saw two flying in the space between large trees and one or two more flying about 50 metres away, again between large trees We did not notice any moths fluttering around on our walk We returned to the moth watch cloths and shone the lights We found several small caterpillars or grubs and three bugs which we placed in the specimen jar for later identification (Rose put these in the fridge overnight with a leaf and later passed them to a known biologist for identification if they have the time) At 9.30 we decided to call off as there had been no sign whatsoever of moths Our results matched many of the surveys taking place the same evening nationally

3) So what could we have done differently? The weather conditions were probably too cool and this was reflected in reports across the national survey Finding caterpillars rather than adult insects may indicate the wrong time in the life cycle for a moth watch It might be useful to look at the vegetation in daylight beforehand and try to predict which insects would be using it for food source, egg laying, cocoons, etc Finding other bugs was a very interesting diversion Moths might be more inclined to approach an ultra violet light than an ordinary torch light An easier way would be to use a moth-trap left outside overnight for leisurely identification in the morning