June was a bit up and down weather and moth wise with the better catches in the second half of the month.
Bordered Pug and Double Square-spot are having a good year at home but there is a distinct lack of the Nutmeg. I visited the Abbey Farm, site at Snape on the 1st of June where the Small Clouded Brindle was abundant. I also captured a Coleophora amethystinella there which is possibly the most northern record to date. A Buttoned Snout and a Lunar Yellow Underwing were also good catches and there were several Elachista atricomella which were new to me.
I have had several species new to my home site during June which have included immigrant species, of which more later. Great to get a lovely Rosy Marbled along with the less striking Brindled White Spot on 23rd and Eana incanana on 22nd which was a first for me. More interesting was the capture of Grapholita lobarzewskii. This is a relative newcomer to the UK that is expanding its range. I captured one on the 16th and on the 23rd. These appear to be a first for Suffolk. It is a small dark but very attractive species and has a similar life style to Cydia pomonella but also feeds on plum species.
It has been an interesting second half of the month for immigrants. The 24th saw the unwelcome invasion of the Large Yellow Underwing. There were several hundred in my front garden trap which made it impossible to open the trap without losing a lot of moths . There were Lesser Yellow Underwings amongst them and an occasional Lunar. They have dispersed to some degree but been further boosted later in the month. On the same date were a number of Catoptria verellus, a lot of Yponomeuta evonymella and of Dioryctria species. Dioryctria were mostly abietella that I have often considered as immigrants along with simplicella and one sylvestrella. I visited Havergate Island the following night where I picked D. abietella and D. sylvestrella off the outside of the buildings there supporting their being immigrant species as well as resident in Suffolk. Similarly I believe Caloptilia species arrive as immigrants and C. stigmatella and C. falconipennella were also captured on 24th. C. falconipennella has been on the increase locally and immigration may well be assisting in this. The best larger moth catch on 23rd was a first Suffolk Dusky Marbled Brown. It was in the rear garden trap and so not damaged by the hordes of Noctua pronuba. There were an exceptionally high numbers of Willow Beauty on 21st with an otherwise poorish catch. I took 2 Pearly Underwing on 15th and an Ethmia terminalis (a first for me) and Elegia similella on 29th. The 29th and 30th saw Sciota hostilis arrive in Suffolk. The first was sent to confuse me as it was a very dark specimen that looked exactly like S. fumella, a non UK species, but the genitalia prep. did not match so the second specimen sorted my mind out. Plutella xylostella have been prominent throughout the month and peaked in the order of 1000 on 30th.
Seems that Sciota hostilis was takem elsewhere along the coast. I know of Boyton on 30th and with Matthew at Bawdsey, so probably at Landguard and eksewhere.