National Moth Week is being celebrated July 19-27. This is a chance to encourage people to pay attention to these interesting creatures that maybe don’t get as much recognition as their interesting relatives the Butterflies.
Moth Nights are monthly events organized and coordinated through Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation’s Division of Nature Preserves and Natural Resources. The purpose of these events is to document the diversity of moth species found within Mecklenburg County. The project relies on local naturalists and moth enthusiasts to work with county staff in an effort to correctly identify and record the various species of moths observed during the events. Moth Nights began in 2012 and were held monthly at county parks, greenways and nature preserves. The project is continuing and expanding. In its first year, the project generated hundreds of moth records, photos and specimens that will be added to a permanent county collection. Data from the project will be used to establish a published checklist to the moths of Mecklenburg County. All of this information will greatly increase the regional knowledge on this group of insects.
At the recent Moth Night held at Woodland Discovery in Cabarras County, naturalist Lenny Lampel talked about National Moth Week. This local event was possibly the first Mothing activity in Cabarras County. He explained how to set up sheets and black lights, and showed us his brew of “mung” to attract moths — rotten fruit, brown sugar, molasses, stale beer, etc. Lenny said that in the two years they’ve been doing moth counts in Mecklenburg county, they have identified over 600 species. This is important because as species increase or decrease, it can tell them a lot about what is happening in the habitat.
We then went to see if any moths were on the sheets & ropes; followed by s’mores.
I don’t know about you but if I turn on an outside light at my house I attract a lot of moths. National Moth Week makes me want to learn more about the moths in my yard. Here’s a link to National Moth Week. http://nationalmothweek.org