Suffolk Moth Group meeting 2nd September – Tunstall common.

5 moth-ers attended this meeting, the last ‘official’ evening event for the year. Conditions didn’t look too promising, with some heavy showers in the afternoon followed by clear skies for the evening. 4 traps (1 actinic) were put out around the more scrubby areas on the common as putting them out in the open on a cold night would have been a waste of time.
A few moths trickled in but it was never going to be a busy night so we only gave it a few hours. To keep ourselves busy during quiet spells we looked round for a few larvae and leaf mines. This boosted the species list from 26sp seen at light up to 44sp.
Highlights included, light trap records first: Lunar yellow underwing (2, no surprise really as this is one of the best sites in the Sandlings for the moth), Feathered gothic, Hedge rustic, Birch mocha and a Latticed heath.
Leaf mines/larvae of note: Festoon (a number of larvae found on Oak tree next to the sheet light), Mother shipton (larva on grass), Caloptilia populetorum (mine on Birch), Bucculatrix demariella (mine on Birch) and Coleophora kuehnella (case on Oak).
So this meeting completed the evening events programme and in my opinion this has been one of the best field seasons for a long time with almost every session producing good numbers of moths and/or things of note. Once all the data is entered it will be interesting to see how it compares to 2006, the last great moth year.

Neil

Birch mocha

Birch mocha

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