Now that Sloe Carpet has most probably ‘gone over’ for another year I have been out surveying for opima the Northern Drab.
Thwarted by cold nights over the past couple of weeks, this has been no mean task. The Bawdsey Hall traps have produced odd singletons (even on poor nights).
On the night of 21 April I deployed four 125W MV traps at Stanny Farm, Iken. Two of these traps were positioned close to the saltmarsh by the river wall, with the others in the farm house gardens.
This morning I was delighted to discover three opima in the traps by the farm house. There were none in the saltmarsh traps despite ideal conditions last night. This represents a new 10km square and fills in the obvious gap along the coast between Dunwich and Felixstowe.
Northern Drab - Matthew J. Deans
Also of note were an impressive six Emperor Moths, Brindled Beauty, Lunar Marbled Brown, Chocolate-tip, Cinnabar, Red-green Carpet, Pebble Hook-tip, Iron & Pebble Prominents and Eudonia angustea.
Emperor Moth - Matthew J. Deans
My other sites surveyed (including Bawdsey Hall) have produced many of the same moths posted by others on this blog recently and nothing noteworthy. It has been good to see a decent selection of prominents before the month is over. A white Tawny Shears on 20 April was a delight and an early Bright-line Brown-eye.