In the middle of July 2006, Harry Whiteley told me that his son had found tunnels in a piece of cherry timber that he had been turning on his lathe. The cherry wood had been sourced from Harry's semi-rural garden in Baildon, VC64. "These can only have been made by clearwings; do you know which it might be?" he asked. By chance, earlier the same day, I had read-up on Yellow-legged Clearwing Synanthedon vespiformis and been surprised to learn that cherry was one of its larval foodplants. I was also in possesion of a full set of clearwing pheromones from Anglian Lepidoperist Supplies so Harry and I determined to try and trap one.
I have had previous success capturing Currant Clearwings Synanthedon tipuliformis using pheromone lures in funnel traps that are intended for use by commercial fruit-growers. The adult male moths are attracted to a pheromone-impregnated plastic lure which is encased above a funnel leading to a chamber of water. Once inside the chamber the moths remain there and would presumably perish if not rescued by an eager lepidopterist. I suspect that clearwings can swim for several days but seem to recover quickly, without apparent detriment, when carefully extracted from the water.
We suspended a "VES" pheromone trap under the old cherry tree in Harry's
garden on Hollins Hill, Baildon VC64 and on 26th July 2006 the trap was
inspected and an adult male Yellow-legged Clearwing found.
Clearwings obviously live under our noses! Harry Whiteley is a keen entomologist who mostly specialises in solitary wasps and hoverflies. It was his discovery of Currant Clearwing in his garden in June 2004 that prompted me to search for these myself. I have since found them on allotments in Bradford, Shipley, Otley and Burley-in-Wharfedale. This year I even discovered them in my own Baildon garden where they have been presumably been co-habiting with me, un-noticed, for several years!
At the March 2007 YNU Lepidopterists' Group meeting I hope to be able to provide pheromone kits to encourage others to discover what's living at the bottom of their garden! As the table below shows, the lures "TIP", "MYO" and "VES" are all that is required to search for Currant, Yellow-legged, Large Red-belted and Red-tipped Clearwings.
| Species | Flight | Attractant | Habitat |
| Lunar Hornet | July-August | None | Sallows in open woodland. (Look for boreholes). |
| Currant Clearwing | June-July | TIP | Allotments and fruit gardens |
| Yellow-legged Clearwing | May-Aug | VES VES+HYL VES+TAB |
Light woodland and gardens where Wych Elm, oaks, birches and cherries are grown. |
| Large Red-belted Clearwing | May-June | MYO CUL (best) |
Light woodland with birch stumps. |
| Six-belted Clearwing | June-August | API | Grassy swards where Bird's-foot Trefoil is not too heavily grazed. |
| Red-tipped Clearwing | June-August | MYO TIP TIP+VES MYO+TIP+VES FOR (best) |
Osiers and other willows growing in damp or marshy ground. |
More information on this project can be found here.
References:
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