The night of 22 November will be remembered as the night of the Olive-tree Pearl or Palpita vitrealis.
Following a moderate arrival in the south of England on Friday night I was expecting to catch this moth last night. No surprise perhaps that two should arrive at my Bawdsey Hall traps then! I was also able to add the species to the Stanny Farm, Iken, site list too when a singleton arrived last night. Even more unexpected however was one that was caught by the Moth Group at Groton Wood last night (on the side of Neil’s trap) – the most inland Suffolk record ever.
It seemed that wherever one deployed a moth trap last night in Suffolk there was a vitrealis to be caught. One wonders just how many must have really arrived last night, probably hundreds!
I didn’t get one!