Richard Parsons from BellaVista Cloud Forest Reserve in Ecuador sends us the following write-up about their NMW event:
“Moths in Bellavista are of an enormous diversity, and we know from scientists that many species are likely to be new to science. The Cloud Forests of northwestern Ecuador are still well-preserved at our altitude (above 1500m / 5000 ft to about 2500m / 8000 ft) and Bellavista has pretty complete secondary and primary forest in our 700 ha (2000 acre ) private nature reserve. Nobody came specifically for moth week, but we have constant movement of visitors .. small numbers, 8 – 25 people staying any one night and many are interested, or very much become interested, in the diversity of moths. The only thing we do to attract moths are lights … ordinary lights . Occasionally we put up a black light with a sheet, but not every night. What we did was to inform some of the visitors about the moth week event, and to ask directly for help from a couple of photographers to get the photos.
We will be very happy to run more moth events, and would be very happy to be on the circuit of places where students and researchers can come to study moths (simple research station on the property) .
Moths in Ecuador in general are fascinating and extraordinarily diverse. The country has a high diversity of moths for its size than any other country in the world. But as yet, we do not know of any tour designed specifically for moth enthusiasts. And it would not be difficult to set one up! Besides Bellavista, there are other lodges dedicated to nature / wildlife / birding in many different ecosysytems and elevations in the country, where great moth sightings can pretty much be guaranteed!”
Some highlights:
