It appears there is a Rest harrow moth invasion going on in south Suffolk at the moment, with a number of records in the Bawdsey and Felixstowe areas in the last few days. Hopefully Matthew will add to this news as he has a good idea on numbers seen. So watch out in your traps for this moth, could turn up. Whether this means the moth has already colonized south Suffolk or numbers from further south have moved up to maybe begin colonization is not known yet.
Well worth going to coastal localities where the foodplant is present in the daytime as the moth can be easily disturbed. I’ve looked at Shingle street and I know Matthew has looked at Bawdsey without success but there is still plenty more sites to check.
Neil
Addendum: The invasion has reached me, with 2 Rest harrow recorded in last night’s trap (6th). So keep an eye out, they could turn up anywhere.
One of my Rest harrows
8 Rest Harrow have reached Bawdsey so far (including 4 on night of 3 August). Quite a few others recorded in Felixstowe too – mostly at Landguard.
Feels like a migration/immigration to me, but we might be lucky if females have come in for it to establish. Mine arrived on the 6th. It is often the case, that a few days after numbers of an immigrants turn up at Bawdsey, then they turn up at mine and further inland (Neil). The 6th was a particularly good night for moths to move too. The change in wind direction from those predominantly easterly winds to more southerlies along with warm weather has encouraged moth migration to, and within the country.
The word from known sites in Kent is that the moth had a good first brood followed by an exceptionally large second brood, so my guess is the moths have come from there. Both my moths were female so it is very possible that other females spread up from Kent too so may breed. Rest harrow plentiful at some sites on our coast.