Suffolk Moth Group ‘away’ event 15/07/2017 – Kent.

5 moth-ers headed down to Kent for a bit of ‘away’ mothing on Saturday 15th July. First stop late morning was just off the M2 at Ranscombe Farm Plantlife reserve. This site has many rare plants but we were here to look for some chalk loving moths. Sadly, on arrival it was gloomy, overcast with light rain – not the best conditions for finding day-flying moths!
After an early lunch break things did improve slightly with the rain stopping and the temperature lifting a bit so we set about searching a meadow full of Marjoram. Main target was Moitrelia obductella and we located 3. Other species of interest: Nemophora metallica (female on scabious flower), Oncocera semirubella and Merrifieldia baliodactylus (Dingy white plume).

Moitrelia obductella

Moitrelia obductella

 

 

 

 

 

 
We then moved on to have a look at the Park Gate down reserve, another chalk grassland famous for orchids. It was quite windy at this spot, again, not great for finding day flying species but at least the sun came out for a bit. Not much was seen here apart from a Small purple-barred and Anania fuscalis. Nice to see Marbled whites and a Chalkhill blue though.
After a meal at a local pub it was on to the trapping site – Covert wood. This wood has a mix of deciduous and planted conifer trees with a mix of flora along the rides. Main target found here was the Dusky peacock moth, a relatively recent arrival to the UK.
7 traps (2x WEM light traps, 3x 125w MVs and a couple of other actinics) were deployed along the rides and tracks covering various groups of trees. It was a warm evening with cloud cover and we were sheltered in the wood from any breeze. Moths soon started coming in and we were kept very bust right into the early hours of the morning. The main target species was seen in numbers with at least 30 seen. Other highlights, of which there were many, included the following.
Beautiful carpet, Waved carpet (60+ seen many different forms), Clouded magpie, Satin beauty, Triangle (4), Satin lutestring (40+), Red-necked footman, Olive crescent (15), White-banded carpet (3), Pseudatemelia josephinae, Amblyptilia punctidactyla (Brindled plume), August thorn (2), Four-spotted footman (male and female), Green arches (worn), Broom-tip, Assara terebella, Barred red (prasinaria green form), White-line snout, Dark marbled carpet, Moitrelia obductella and a Sub-angled wave (that eluded capture!).
At the end of the night I had 201sp in my notebook, so yet again another very good recording session following the same trend of the rest of the summer so far. Added bonus that 3 of the macros I hadn’t seen before – the Dusky peacock, White-banded carpet and Waved carpet.

Neil

Dusky peacock

Dusky peacock

Waved carpet

Waved carpet

White-banded carpet

White-banded carpet

Dark marbled carpet (underside)

Dark marbled carpet (underside)

Satin lutestring

Satin lutestring

 

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