GIFT SUGGESTIONS
Sometimes it is difficult to know what to give somebody that will be their particular interest. If you give a Gift Certificate then the recipient of your gift can choose things that particularly appeal. Click here for details.
The new Moonlander Moth Trap
Compact and portable. Designed and tested by Robert Goodden. The Moonlander has been re-designed with spring-loaded supports and integral legs. It has a convenient new carry bag that accommodates trap, cone, moth shelters, supports with legs, and the new compact Goodden GemLight SUPER. This is not just a bag: it enables you to pack away the trap with the contents all arranged inside, ready for immediate use next time. Yet the bag is only 50mm or 2" deep.
The new Moonlander packs into a small postal container. The Moonlander, with all equipment including the GemLight Super can be sent together by International Letter Post. No other trap and light is compact and light enough to do this. Mail a trap to contacts abroad to use it remotely for you!
Sufficient room for large catches, anywhere in the world. Folds absolutely flat. Carry in hand luggage, on a bike or hike. Neat carrying case: carry several in the field in one hand. Set up in seconds. See your catch as the moths fly in – this trap combines the advantages of both sheet for observation and trap to retain the moths which enter from the base not the top. Other traps lose their catch through the top opening in the morning – the Moonlander is closed at the top and holds its catch. Ideal for sampling in remote areas on nothing more than tiny torch batteries.
A cone of reticulated foam in the base, and a set of foam moth shelters are included. These are a modern improvement on egg boxes. Given a choice, more moths are found in the foam than in egg boxes. Click photo to enlarge and see the moths' preference! If wet the foam is simply shaken and quickly dries in the air. Foam can be rolled compactly and springs back into shape when required for use.
Dimensions: 38cm diameter, 45cm tall (+ height of legs). The Moonlander with Goodden GemLight Super, Cone and Moth Shelters, all arranged in the carrying bag, for instant use, weighs less than a Kilo, and the bag is only approximately 50mm 4" deep.
Click main photo to see lots more. Hover over a picture and an arrow comes up left or right so you can view all the pictures in rotation. See moths in good numbers attracted to the Moonlander, and working in remote sites. The Moonlander attracts moths even above the snow line. Conventional sceptics sometimes express doubt that moths fly upwards into the trap, and believe that moths only rest on the outside. Indeed the Moonlander is designed to view your catch as it comes in, as if using a white sheet, but they also pile in through the base entrance, as the photographs on this site testify. The Moonlander is an unconventional and innovative trap, designed for convenience and excellent results on field studies. See the advanced new Goodden GemLight Super which has been designed specially to suit the Moonlander - the most compact light that requires no brick for a battery, just 8 AA torch batteries!
Hanging Moonlander There can be advantages in suspending the Moonlander from a branch. With the new Goodden GemLight Super, the whole trap with light and contained batteries, is a fraction of the weight of other traps and batteries. See separate description of the Goodden GemLight SUPER.
The Moonlander can be suspended at different heights, even hoisted up trees, which may sometimes result in attracting different species. A suspended trap is very quick to assemble and pack away. It overcomes difficult or sloping terrain, and resists bad weather. The Moonlander can even be adapted for use by day as a BUTTERFLY TRAP! Just add a suspended bait platform below the base opening and it will catch Charaxes and other Nymphalid butterflies in countries where they occur. When you want the trap to be free standing you can use the new spring-loaded compact supports with integrated legs.
Completely re-designed supports and legs are now available for the Moonlander for use where a free-standing trap is required. The new supports are spring loaded so they automatically adjust height when damp conditions necessitate longer supports. Equally, if warm and dry, the supports may need shortening (by moving a screw to a new position) rather then create excess tension which could damage the netting. Check this before fitting the supports. These supports are a great improvement on the originals. They are very slender and pack away in little space.
Designed for total convenience both in transit and in the field. Multiple traps are easily transported and quickly set up in remote places. Re-charging can be done quickly from a vehicle and you can even re-charge using solar energy.
Any light can be used. The trap is sold with the battery powered Goodden GemLight Super. It can also be used with any other light. We no longer offer actinic lights because test results are well below those with the Goodden GemLight Super, and their batteries are heavy.
Everything about both trap and light is TOTALLY INNOVATIVE and new to Entomology.
Moonlander complete, Carry Bag, Cone and Moth Shelters, Goodden GemLight SUPER and new self-adjusting supports with legs
Please see notes and advice on selecting suitable sites, and how to use the light
in the GemLight SUPER description in this section.
PATENT PENDING for both the new GOODDEN GemLight SUPER and the MOONLANDER MOTH TRAP.
Five Painted Lady larvae in Total Environment Pot
Available only for delivery to GB addresses, not international orders.
The five Painted Lady caterpillars live their whole life inside the see-through pot which contains all they need from birth to pupating. You need add no food. You don’t even clean them out and they look after themselves over weekends!
The larvae grow quite quickly in summer indoor conditions (never keep them in direct sunshine). The container is easily passed round a group without disturbance to the larvae.
During skin change the larvae do not move or eat This may last a day or two.
Don't be alarmed by this: it is a natural stage in their development.
When the larvae have finished eating, they suspend themselves from a silk pad spun on special absorbent paper in the lid. Here they cast their caterpillar skin. If you are lucky and look at the right moment you can see the actual moment of change from caterpillar to chrysalis.
Let the chrysalis harden for a couple of days, then hang the paper pinned inside a cage for the butterflies to emerge.
You can keep the butterflies for a few days in a cage with nectar flowers. Then, except in the colder months October to March, release them into the wild where they may breed naturally in your area. Please keep the larvae and pupae in an even room temperature (around 18-22º) day and night. Keep away from direct sunlight or a direct heat source such as a radiator.
The instructions are printed above - please note them for the arrival of the larvae which are not sent with further instructions. If you are sending larvae as a present, please remember the recipient will not have these instructions, unless you copy them to the recipient.
Can be ordered in advance. During the season there may be a delay of a couple of weeks or more if larvae are not currently at the size for sending.
Butterflies of Britain Chart Richard Lewington
Four-folded highly colourful chart illustrating all the British butterflies natural size, by the artist Richard Lewington. Stiff card, approx A4 size, gloss laminate protected both sides. The reverse has informative texts on life cycles, Parasites, behaviour, conservation and organisations involved with butterflies.
CHART Caterpillars of the British Butterflies
A very striking and informative identification guide, which will help at a glance to identify butterfly caterpillars. The artist is Gordon Riley, and it is edited by David Carter. 20 x 30". Sent folded.
The top 50 Garden Birds in Britain
This laminated fold-out chart is designed to help identify the majority of species likely to be found in a garden throughout the year. 12 pages.
Day-flying Moths, a laminated fold-out chart Illustrated by Richard Lewington
8-page laminated chart with 103 species of day-flying macro-moths and information on the habitats and distribution of each species. Illustrations by Richard Lewington.
Breeding the British Butterflies Peter Cribb
A good practical handbook covering all aspects of butterfly breeding, including general techniques, equipment, and hints on how to breed each of the British species, foodplants, hand-pairing etc. written by an expert on British Butterflies.
60 pages, 6 figures, 5 plates. Paperback 8.25 x 5.75"
NEW Zipped Bag Sleeve with side opening for instant access.
This size is ideal for rearing to pupation about ten larvae, or for keeping larger numbers of younger larvae. The end of the bag is sewn closed. The open end is slipped over a branch and tied or fastened with velcro strip.
The side zip gives wide access for inspection, photography or removal of frass and any dead leaves. Also ideal when you find that a caterpillar has hitched a lift on your arm! When you use a Zipped Bag Sleeve you will wonder why it has taken until now to use such an innovation!
Osier Willow cuttings S. viminalis
Years ago we planted a stick that was floating down a river in Wiltshire. That was in 1954! It grew – rapidly – producing a wealth of leaves. We tried it as a foodplant and discovered that not only did British species do well on it, but exotic silkmoth larvae as well.
This stick was the daddy of hosts of willow thickets that we have established in Dorset, Cornwall and in France.
Osier is Basket Willow, the flexible essential for basket weaving. It makes a wonderful woven hedge. It can form living sculptures. Winter or summer, Osier makes wonderful screens and windbreaks. Cover for wildlife and game. Osier is grown as a crop for energy production. In short it is a blessing to the environment, and very pleasant on the eye in landscaping schemes.
We are offering a bunch of 10 cuttings for you to try not only as probably the most universal foodplant for larvae, but a great addition to your garden and grounds.
Probably the easiest cuttings to strike and grow. You simply push them into the ground, during autumn or spring. Leaves will appear within the first fortnight if planted in spring, roots quickly follow. In the first year they will more than double in size. Next year, in normal drought free conditions, if you winter prune very hard, you will have perhaps 2 metres of growth on every branch, providing masses of foodplant. You may even be able to feed some in the first year.
You can store cuttings before planting, either in a polythene bag in the fridge, or standing in water. In water they often start to root. It is advisable to plant them before the roots actually burst out of the bark.
This plant is a complete success story – you will be pleased you tried it!
Beginner's Field Net
A simple and well-designed net, suitable for first forays out into the fields and woods. In order to identify for sure, it may often be necessary to capture an insect, and then release it if not required. You get net bag, frame and fixed 30mm 12 inch handle.
Collins Butterfly Guide Tom Tolman and Richard Lewington
This new guide covers over 400 species, 2000 colour illustrations and distribution maps for each species.
Very comprehensive text covering flight periods, variation, habitat, behaviour, life cycle and nomenclature. 384 pages. New Softback edition.
Collins Complete Guide to British Butterflies and Moths by Paul Sterry, Andrew Cleave and Rob Read.
A comprehensive and fully illustrated guide, with more than 2500 photographs to help identify each species of butterfly and macro moth found in Britain and Ireland with ease.
Includes details on behaviour, eggs and larvae, status, geographical range and preferred habits, along with a section dealing with the ‘rarest of the rare’ - extinct species or very rare immigrants.
Softcover, 368 pages
