Mothnet Camp Summary

Mothnet Camp! on PhotoPeach Last week Miss Taylor took us to the Mothnet Camp at the Orokonui Ecosanctuary. We spent the 3 days setting up traps in 6 different sites in and around the Ecosanctuary to find out about the sustainability of moths in the South Island. We joined student champions from schools as far south as Stewart Island and as far north as Kaikoura.


The Traps
The traps were made of steel and had a hole at the top to put a funnel and the electrics inside. We put a bag inside the funnel some egg cartons inside for the moths to hold onto. At night time the light would go on inside the funnel and moths would be attracted to them and then get caught in the bag inside the funnel.

Each morning we collected the moths that had been captured overnight and we got to have a go at identifying which moth species we had found.


Our Experiment
Now that we are back at school we have to run our own experiment and send in the moths we find to the people at Landcare Research for them to identify and keep as part of a wider South Island study. We are hoping to do this at the Dalley's farm. Thank you very much for their offer. This experiment will take place over two nights between the 8th-12th November.

We had a great week at the Mothnet Camp and it was a very good experience for us. Thank you to Miss Taylor for taking us to Mothnet.

By Lachie and Alex