10 moth-ers met up at Mayday farm in the forest before heading down to the edge of Lakenheath warren. Sadly the forecast cloud cover wasn’t around on arrival so a bright moon was starting to rise and it felt a bit cool out on the open heath areas. 12 lights were put out, a mix of mv and actinics with most sticking close to the edge of the forest where the temperature would hopefully hold up longer.
Moths soon started to appear after setting up and continued to come in until after midnight when numbers slowed up so we packed up not long after that. We were surrounded by the calls of Nightjar, Woodlark and Stone curlew at times in the evening.
104 species on my list. There were a few highlights in that total. Best moth probably Spatalistis bifasciana, a scarce tortrix that is new to the vice county. This was followed by another micro, Archips oporana (2 seen), a moth we have noted in the general area before but there are few records for it. Other notables: Pempelia palumbella, Cream-spot tiger (quite a few), Thisanotia chrysonuchella (2), Lunar yellow underwing (at least 6), Beautiful hook tip, Dotted fan-foot, Red-necked footman (a few, almost certainly resident in the area rather than migrants), Four-dotted footman, Clouded buff (quite a number came in late in the session), Purple clay, Reddish light arches, Rosy marbled (2), Shaded pug, Satin wave and Broom moth.
It was a pity we didn’t pick up some more of the breck specialities on this night, but we can’t complain too much as moth numbers were generally quite good given the conditions and it still gives a lot of hope for the summer ahead.
Neil