Heading to foreign lands to search for the first brood Balsam carpet – 3rd May 2015.

A moth that I have been trying to track down for a few years now is the first-brood Balsam carpet. This is a rare species in Suffolk, only found along the river Waveney in small numbers. We have tried the Beccles area in the past early on in the season when the moth flies, but, being an open site close to the river we didn’t get it nor much else either!
So, I arranged with Brian for a few of us to go to his good site at Aldeby on the Norfolk bank of the river once the moth was on the wing. Brian caught one on the 2nd May at an adjacent site, so we headed up to Aldeby on the 3rd. Brian had kindly kept the moth from the previous night so we all got to see what we were looking for.
We put out a mix of mv and actinic traps, 7 in all, through the excellent carr woodland habitat plus a few on some scrubby heathy areas for variety. A wander round at dusk didn’t produce much, which was a bit worrying. A check of the traps a bit later didn’t reveal much either, although we did find a couple of Balsam carpet in the furthest trap into the carr habitat so we succeeded with seeing the target moth for ourselves.
We spent a few hours recording, with moths only coming in ones and twos slowly through the night. With a clear sky and a bright moon it wasn’t too much of a surprise really. Checking the traps only revealed a handful in each one, so we called it a night around 11pm. I had 23 species on my list, with the commonest moth the Balsam carpet with 9 recorded. Most of them were very fresh, showing they had just emerged. This is a bit later than normal according to Brian. Others of possible note included Pammene argyrana, Waved umber, Ancylis mitterbacheriana, Epinotia immundana, Streamer and Small phoenix. Some of these were year firsts for all present.
At home, a check of my trap running in the garden revealed the grand total of 4 moths, best of which was a Great prominent, a year first. Things did improve however as a check this morning showed a few more moths had come in with 12 species recorded, best of which was a Broom-tip.
I know it’s a bit naughty reporting a Norfolk moth meeting on the Suffolk site but I feel it’s still relevant as it shows what is coming on to the wing in a county adjacent to Suffolk in a habitat that we do have on our side of the border too.

Neil

Balsam carpet spring brood

Balsam carpet spring brood

Streamer

Streamer

Epinotia immundana

Epinotia immundana

 

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One Response to Heading to foreign lands to search for the first brood Balsam carpet – 3rd May 2015.

  1. Brian says:

    Another 2 new species were added to the site list (Pammene argyrana & Agonopterix arenella). Also, the trap that contained the most Balsam Carpet was only about 200 yards from the Suffolk border so – very relevant and a very pleasant and enjoyable evening.

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