Author Archives: paulb

The ‘Unrivalled’ …

This year see’s the 20th anniversary of National Moth Night, a celebration of all the things we love and enjoy about this hobby of ours. One of the themes is Clifden Nonpareil (Catocola fraxini) - aka the ‘Blue Underwing’. Despite a … Continue reading

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Lyonetia sp’ in Woolpit –

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There are two Lyonetia species on the British list, with clerkella being the one most of us are familiar with. As it happens, even this is an uncommon visitor to my garden trap so I’m in the habit of potting … Continue reading

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April news from Woolpit

April was a slow month for me with the trap only operated on seven nights. A cool start  gave way to a warm Easter, but with clear nights and a bright moon, before returning to more typical ‘April Showers’. Of … Continue reading

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March News from Woolpit

The moth season is always slow to get going for me but, with reasonable conditions of late, the traps been out most nights this week. Both Small and Common Quaker have made up the bulk of the catch (there were … Continue reading

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fovealis in Woolpit

With apologies for the poor photo below (I needed to get to work), this Duponchelia fovealis was a surprise find in the moth trap this morning. I vaguely recall seeing the first Suffolk record of this species when one was … Continue reading

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Some Heath’s, a Hedge and a Hummer

The ‘long hot dry‘ is over and there’s a distinct autumnal feel to the air. These past few weeks I’ve also noticed a drop in the number of sp’ visiting the garden trap. Underwings are still largely absent, so much so … Continue reading

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Which Dioryctria sp?

Am struggling with this one. Think it might be Dioryctia abietella .. which would only be third garden record. Moth was taken on Mon 6 August and is still in the fridge just in case!

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A Clearwing, a Clover, and a complete surprise – News from Woolpit

As others have noted, the prolonged spell of hot, dry weather has been a mixed blessing. My own sense is that the number and variety of moth sp’ visiting the garden trap has also been down on previous years, with … Continue reading

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“Yellow-spot Lift” anyone?

Preferring the sofa by the lounge window has benefits. I get to watch the local House Sparrows go about their daily squabbles, there’s that fly-over bird of prey which will one day turn into a real Red Kite and, occasionally, … Continue reading

Posted in Identification Requests, Sightings | 2 Comments

amethystinella reaches Woolpit

In his posting from May 2017 Neil drew attention to a sp’ that was on the move. He also suggested we keep an eye for … “any large metallic green Coleophora in our traps”. Sunday just gone (27 May) was a … Continue reading

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