My first post for a while as I’ve been enjoying the warm weather both during the day and at night so haven’t had time to blog. Now with the rain lashing down outside and the temperature down below 10 degrees (in the daytime!) I can write a review of the end of October.
I’ve put in a lot of trapping effort over the period running most but not all nights with various types and numbers of traps. Actinic was a bit of a waste of time so only used on a few occasions with low numbers caught. A single Mv trap run in the garden and at one spot at the workshed wood area have performed the best so all other trap locations abandoned in favour of those. Most interesting sightings for me were the addition of 2 new species to my site list with a Delicate noted on the 27th in the garden trap (a worn one unfortunately, a common theme with my new species I’ve caught this year for some reason!). The garden trap again produced the goods on the 31st with a Cypress carpet, a moth I’m sure is on the way to colonizing Suffolk in the near future as it has resident populations in Essex. Not sure how many county records there have been up till now but I think its less than 10.
While on the theme of migrants I’ve not had the numbers and exciting things that have been reported elsewhere over the period in the UK, but I wouldn’t expect that here anyway being a bit inland. I have had quite a few Plutella xylostella and Udea ferrugalis, along with very small numbers of Silver Y.
Continuing the theme of out of season oddities, I’ve had Pyrausta aurata, Garden carpet, Pebble hook-tip (27th, sitting next to a Mottled umber on top of the trap!) and an Agriphila inquinatella.
Some of the more usual autumnal species have appeared in good numbers this season, again probably because it has been mild. Merveille du Jour has been very prominent, seen almost every night with up to 5 seen sometimes. Red-green carpet (I can remember a few years back this was a rarity in Suffolk!), Yellow-line quaker, Blair’s shoulder knot, Streak and November moth all seen in good numbers. Sorting through the more well-marked Novembers I’ve found a few Pale novembers and in more recent days Autumnal moths. Other odd things of interest have included Flounced chestnut and Diurnea lipsiella. Mottled umber appeared regularly during the period with a December moth caught on the 30th and again on the 1st November.
With cold weather looking like it is finally arriving I don’t think I’ll be trapping much more this year now. Only Scarce umber and Northern winter moth to record for the year list so I may pop a trap on if weather allows but I feel that the main bulk of the recording season is now over. Time to start catching up on records and photo sorting, plus planning what to get up to next year!
Neil
Congratulations on the Cypress Carpet Neil. I think it is only the 4th record ad I believe Matthew had the 3rd last year.