A little tardy on my report as I made myself very busy at the start of June. May weather started quite poor and cool but heated up considerably towards the end of the month. Naturally the moths complied. Breached the 100+ species mark at home on 30th. Huge numbers of Treble Lines around and also doing well during the month have been Rivulet, Seraphim, Nematopogon schwarziellus and Platydra subcinerea.
My home site has been showing a tendency towards more woodland species recently. This does reflect changes locally. May moths such as Epinotia immundana and Dwarf Pug. The Tawny Marbled Minor appeared before the Marbled Minor this year and Eudonia angustea before Scoparia ambigualis. I have a few micros new for my site during May. In contrast to last year Nepticulidae have been doing well and have added; Stigmella perpygmaeella, S. crataegella and Ectoedemia louisella. Also new for my site were Phyllonorycter rajella, Glyphipterix simpliciella (in malaise trap) and Coleophora amethystinella. C. amethystinella is a big success story for Suffolk being caught by a number of moth-ers locally and I have also captured it at Tangham and Snape.
I trapped at Tangham on 25th. Lovely moths there and always a pleasure. Both the Peacock and the Sharp-angled Peacock are regulars there as are the lovely Lobesia reliquana and Ancylis mitterbacheriana. I confirmed the location for Coleophora lassella as well as picking up C. amethystinella but got a big surprise with a Barred Hook-tip. Looks like it has wandered some distance as I have not noted Beech trees in the Tangham Forest. Two species caught there were new to me, a Lampronia fuscatella and a Pammene germmana.
On 27th May I hada day as a Pollinator Monitoring Scheme volunteer at our site beside the Butley Estuary which is an opportunity to look at day flying species there. I netted Gynnidomorpha vectisana, Aristotelia brizella and Agdistis bennetii on the salt marsh and was please to find a specimen of Grapholita compositella again for a photo.
Migrants have been scarce so far this year with only Plutella xylostella and Silver Y.