8 moth hunters met up to see if the Devon carpet was still present in the forest having last been seen a few years ago. Better weather forecast than the previous weekend with warm temperatures and some migrants turning up in Suffolk so there were high hopes for a good meeting.
9 traps deployed at the site, a mix of actinics and mv. 3 traps were run further away from the known site along the forest edge to see if Devon carpet could be found there too.
We all then gathered at the sheet light to wait for the hordes of moths to arrive in the warm conditions. Well, we waited and waited but the moths only slowly trickled in sadly. Checking round the traps found a similar story. This has been fairly typical this year throughout the summer so was to be expected I suppose. However, it wasn’t all a waste of effort as some quality moths were recorded amongst the 75+sp noted.
The target moth Devon carpet was recorded, with 4 coming in – 3 in the known habitat area plus another in a trap running out on a ride through the forest away from the wetland edge. Other notables included Oblique carpet (6 recorded), Monopis monachella (5 noted mainly in one of Keith’s traps), both Sharp-angled and the Peacock moths, Eudonia pallida, Small seraphim, Bordered beauty, Webb’s wainscot, Small wainscot, Bulrush wainscot, Evergestis pallidata, Pinion-streaked snout (a good number), Crescent, Hedge rustic, Agriphila latistria, Acleris rhombana, Clay triple lines (2nd brood) and Stenolechia gemmella. We also had some Bactras, some of which were certainly just lancealana but others were smaller and showed the brown streak near the apex with 2 parallel dark lines of lacteana. Some specimens have been retained for checking just to confirm they are lacteana. With the first Suffolk record found close by it will be no surprise if they are.
What of the migrants? Well, we had 2, a Plutella xylostella and a Cydia amplana. Not exactly the hordes we were expecting!
Neil
Pleased you found the Devon Carpet.
On Bactra lacteana, I suspect it is widespread in at least coastal Suffolk. Having made a good dissection of a female from Snape I have found that a female Bactra I had at home and was unable to identify initially from the dissection matches lacteana. So that is a good length of Suffolk covered by catches of the species.