Our Quarry & Asphalt Division's Long Mountain Quarry hosted a moth trapping and identification training session on Wednesday 29th July.
Supported by NIEA's Biodiversity Unit, the event was organised by QPANI's Laverne Bell. It was attended by a dozen biodiversity officers from the NIEA, Dungannon & South Tyrone and Newtownabbey Councils, Conservation Volunteer NI and the Ulster Wildlife Trust. Long Mountain was chosen for the course as it has interesting habitats away from the worked quarry area, such as hazel coppice and heather moor.
Wildlife experts, Dave Allen and Clive Mellon, who were conducting the course, had set up several different types of light trap the previous evening. The traps are lined with cardboard egg trays for the moths to hide in when they get trapped. The traps were opened in turn and the trays, packed with moths, were passed around for the group to examine closely. Dave and Clive identified around fifty different species of moth – they thought that up to half of them would be new records for the 10km square that the quarry is in.
After emptying all the traps, other catching techniques were demonstrated – netting, beating and sweeping. All had a great time trying them out, with Dave and Clive giving numerous expert tips and identifying the insects and larvae caught. The course was a great success, with many participants saying how interesting and enjoyable it had been.
