The first week of Summer.

June, summer by the convention of the met office. Started with gales from the west and not especially warm. We then had a spell of warm weather with air brought up from the south and promise of migrants. However there was also a full moon and some clear skies that didn’t help and at Hollesley during the day of 5th was a most intense thunderstorm with hail that left ‘deep’ water everywhere for a few minutes.

Migrants? Well only Silver Y, Plutella xylostella and my first Dark Sword-grass here. Pleased also though to see Painted Lady, my favourite butterfly. Well done Neil on the Small Mottled Willow. Catches in the warmer weather were OK at 70, 68 and 61 species with some interest. Still getting Large Prominent 7th. Snout about now. Two new species for me at home were a Ptycholoma lecheana 5th and a Lampronia morosa 3rd (according to Suffolk Moths web site the first record since 1931). The Lampronia was determined by dissection since the presence of a noticeable discal spot threw me off L. morosa initially. A daytime visit to the Rendlesham Forest turned up  Micropterix aruncella. A pleasing record for me as it was a personal first and I spotted it sitting on a grass leaf. A visit up to Snape on 5th turned up a few pretty moths; Figure of 80, 5 Gold Spot, Nemophora degeerella and Phyllonorycter klemannella. Some large moths; Privet, Eyed, Poplar and Lime Hawk-moths and a rare one. My second example of Coleophora adjunctella. This record is in the same 10 km square as the original 1904 record (no its not, its actually a 10 km square inland from the original record). Perhaps it is found all along our coast. Another first for me at Snape was Cnephasia incertana.

A spell of winds from the east now will probably reduce catches until another promised warm air from the south at the end of this week.

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