Suffolk Moths Blog » Field meetings

Important news – Suffolk Moth Group events programme cancelled/postponed.

Neil — Thu, 30 Apr 2020 14:24:25 +0000

Given the government advice to avoid social gatherings and venues, the Suffolk Moth Group has regretfully made the decision that it will be in the best interests of everyone to cancel our meetings planned for May and postpone all other events until we know whether they can go ahead if and when the disease comes under control.
We are sure you will agree we have a duty of care to those wishing to attend and given the present situation, we believe this is the correct decision in these difficult times to ensure the welfare of everyone comes first.
This blog and the Facebook page will be used to update on news about the events when we are in a position to resurrect any if at all possible. It may well be likely that all summer events will have to be cancelled.
It is hoped that a leaf-miner recording day can still be arranged for October and the annual indoor meeting that was cancelled in March has been re-booked for mid November. More news on these 2 events later in the year once the virus situation is known.

Best wishes to all and stay safe

Neil Sherman – Suffolk County Moth Recorder.

SUFFOLK MOTH GROUP MEETINGS PROGRAMME 2020.

Neil — Sat, 14 Mar 2020 15:43:15 +0000

See below the list of events for the Suffolk Moth Group for 2020. Note that there are still 2 meetings awaiting confirmation. Once this has been obtained then the details will be added to the programme.

SUFFOLK MOTH GROUP MEETINGS PROGRAMME 2020.

Friday 22nd May – Ramsey Wood RSPB reserve (looking for the Mocha and general recording)
Meet beside entrance to wood just off the road at TM062438 at 8.30pm.

Saturday 30th May – Raydon Wood (looking for Mocha and for general recording) Meet in the Car park for the Hadleigh Railway walk at TM060404 at 8.30pm.
We will head off from this car park after a short wait to the wood entrance further down the road.

Friday 19th June - Cavenham heath, Breckland - for Breckland moths.
Meet in reserve car park at TL744721 at 9pm.
We will move off down the main track for recording after a short wait.

Friday 10th July – Captain’s wood Suffolk Wildlife Trust reserve (for general recording. Olive crescent was recorded from this wood in 2017, so this meeting is arranged to see if any more turn up)
Meet in the reserve car park on right side of School Road at TM420531 at 9pm. We will move off into the wood after a short wait.

Saturday 1st August – Moth morning at Ipswich Golf Course, Purdis Heath (heathland, grassland and wetland species possible). Joint meeting with the Suffolk Branch of Butterfly Conservation.
Meet by the large Ipswich Golf Club sign on the green along Bucklesham Road at TM204425 at 9.30am. We will then walk up the lane to view traps run overnight by Neil Sherman, County moth recorder. Note there is no parking at Ipswich Golf Club, cars to be parked along Bucklesham Road only please.

Friday 14th August – Darsham Marshes Suffolk Wildlife Trust reserve (for wetland species)
Meet in the reserve car park at TM420692 at 8pm.

Friday 28th August – ‘Moth Night’ event at Bawdsey Hall – theme underwing moths. More details to follow later in the year.

Friday 4th September – Wolves Wood RSPB reserve (for possible Clifden Nonpareil and general recording. This wood has a large amount of Aspen so the aim of the meeting is to see if Clifden Nonpareil has colonized the wood, so sugar and wine ropes will be used as well as light traps)
Meet in the reserve car park at TM053436 at 7pm.

Friday 12th September – Bradfield Woods Suffolk Wildlife Trust reserve (for possible Pale eggar, maybe Clifden Nonpareil and general recording)
Meet in the reserve car park at 7pm. We will move off into the wood after a short wait.

Saturday 10th October – Daytime leaf miner recording day – to be confirmed. Once details are finalized this programme will be updated.

Moth trapping evenings are nice social events and are a really good way to learn more about moths and moth trapping, as well as improving our knowledge of the county’s moths. However, events take place outside in the dark and can run for a few hours until quite late at night (sometimes all night if conditions are really good!) so there are a few things that you will need to bring along so that you have a safe and comfortable evening.

• a torch is essential (don’t forget to check the batteries are not running low)

• warm clothing (even if it is a hot day, it can get chilly after dark)

• suitable footwear (stout walking boots advisable for most meetings, wellies for wet sites)

• something to drink and a snack to eat

• something to sit on as we normally run a sheet light as a base and spend a lot of time close to this

• insect repellent

• eye protection against UV light as the bulbs we use emit a lot of it

• mobile phone (most people have one now anyway!)

Please try to arrive at the advertised time, take care of your own personal safety and listen to the short introductory briefing by myself or another experienced recorder who is running the event about any hazards in the area such as electric cables, slippery paths etc. Children must be accompanied by a parent or guardian if under 16. If you have any queries before the event please contact myself.

Neil Sherman (moth@sns.org.uk)

Leaf miner field meeting Sunday 13th October.

Neil — Sun, 13 Oct 2019 14:32:40 +0000

A forecast with the chance of rain is not the best weather for getting out in the field for recording but as I’ve been stuck in front of the computer for too many hours recently was nice just to get out. In the end the rain arrived as predicted at lunchtime, a shame, as it meant the visit to a second site was called off.
Only 3 other recorders plus myself turned out for the meeting. The aim was to primarily search the Poplar and Willow trees to see if we could note the scarcer species associated with them. The relatively new arrival to the UK Phyllonorycter pastorella was one of the hoped for species (on long-leaved Willows), but, sadly, we failed to locate it.
Just over 40sp were recorded, a little less than expected. Some species of tree seemed totally devoid of any mines for reasons unknown. Species of interest included Phyllonorycter comparella (mine on Grey poplar, a scarce species mostly found in west Suffolk at present), Phyllocnistis saligna and xenia (on Crack willow and Grey poplar respectively), Ectoedemia hannoverella (on fallen Black poplar hybrid leaves), Phyllonorycter strigulatella (mines on Italian alder) and a Maiden’s blush larva on Oak.

So the field meetings season has now drawn to a close for another year. Watch this space for news on the group’s annual indoor meeting early in the spring next year – planning for this will begin in the very near future.

Neil

Meeting tomorrow.

Neil — Sat, 12 Oct 2019 18:12:18 +0000

It’s been really difficult to call what the weather is going to do tomorrow. At the moment it is looking OK for the morning so the plan is to go ahead, at least until lunchtime or until the rain gets bad (if it does). Of course if it is really tipping it down then the meeing will be off. Some of the main recorders cannot make the following weekend so this is another reason to try and carry on as planned this week.

Neil

Suffolk Moth group leaf miner day – a reminder that it is this Sunday (13th).

Neil — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 16:54:07 +0000

Just a reminder to say that the annual end of season leaf miner recording day for the group is this Sunday - 13th October, meeting at Rampart’s Field picnic site car park (TL788715) at 10.30am. We will then move off in convoy the short distance to a small parking area just off the A1101 to do our recording on West stow country park.
I’ll be watching the weather forecast as the week progresses, at the moment it’s a bit changeable. As long as there isn’t any heavy rain it will still go ahead. Watch this space for any news of cancellation the night before.

Neil

Suffolk Moth Group leaf miner recording day – Sunday 13th October 2019.

Neil — Sat, 07 Sep 2019 18:52:30 +0000

The annual end of season leaf miner recording day for the group has now been arranged. It will be on Sunday 13th October, meeting at Rampart’s Field picnic site car park (TL788715) at 10.30am. We will then move off in convoy the short distance to a small parking area just off the A1101 to do our recording on West stow country park. This is a spot we haven’t tried before. After either a pub lunch (if there is interest, could be tricky to get in a pub for food on a Sunday lunchtime) or your own picnic lunch, we will then move on to a second site for more recording in the afternoon. This is likely to be Mildenhall woods, another site that hasn’t had much survey work done before.
All are welcome. It’s a good chance to learn about this interesting form of moth recording from some of us that have been doing it for a number of years. At least 50-60 species are likely to be seen, depending on the variety of trees.

Neil

Africa Alive! Bioblitz event 20th/21st July 2019.

Neil — Tue, 14 May 2019 15:08:33 +0000

I have received this invite for moth enthusiasts to the Africa Alive! Bioblitz, anyone interested in helping out then the contact details are listed at the end of the message.

Neil

My name is Ruth Wallis and I work at Africa Alive! In 2015, we ran our first ever 24hour bioblitz, each year since we have run either mini events or 24 hour events, adding species each time. This year we are celebrating our 50th birthday of a zoological collection being on this site and we would like to run another large 24 hour bioblitz seeing if we can bring our total to over a thousand species! We would like to invite you and anyone in your group who would be interested in spending the 20th and/or 21st July at Africa Alive! identifying species on site. If you would like to attend the days please let me know names and day you wish to come (or both) of interested parties.
I look forward to hearing from you
Kind regard Ruth (ruth.wallis@africa-alive.co.uk)

Grey carpet moth survey 31st May 2019, Elveden.

Neil — Thu, 09 May 2019 15:16:42 +0000

Sharon Hearle from BC is planning a Grey Carpet survey day in Suffolk on Friday 31st May 10.30am – 2pm. She has got a list of sites on the Elvden Estate with Flixweed and where can be visited.
Meet on West Road in Icklingham – grid ref TL768732 Postcode IP28 6PU.
She says ‘It would be great to see some Suffolk moth recorders ( I will probably run a load of traps the night before as well). I appreciate Friday is not great for you and others that are working. It is helpful if people email to let me know they are coming along’.

She also says there are problems with the FC over cars accessing the forest – they are having a clampdown and also insist on business insurance.
Possible funding: www.suffolkbis.org.uk/news/funding?page=1

Suffolk Moth Group leaf miner meeting 7th October 2018.

Neil — Mon, 15 Oct 2018 19:08:54 +0000

5 people met up at Hemley church for this meeting on a gloriously sunny autumn day. The aim was to head down to the extensive saltmarsh habitat beside the river Deben to see what moth species associated with that habitat we could find as something a bit different from the normal leaf miner hunt. On the way down, we noted a number of mines of Cosmopterix zieglerella on the hedgerow Hops as well as lots of Ivy bees (Colletes hederae) on the flowering Ivy.

Searching the saltmarsh

Once down onto the saltmarsh we started searching the various plants mainly for Coleophora cases.

Coleophora aestuariella case on Annual Sea blite

Almost immediately I located a case on Annual sea blite (Suaeda maritima) that was quite pinkish in colour. This was the case of Coleophora aestuariella, a rare species with hardly any Suffolk records, a great start!

Coleophora deviella case

We also located some other larger cases on the same plant, these being Coleophora deviella.

Coleophora salicornae case on Glasswort

We then moved to a patch of Glasswort (Salicornia). Tony mentioned about the cases of Coleophora salicornae, saying that he had searched many times for it on this particular patch without success. Here it is, I said after a quick look at the first stems – a case of being in the right place at the right time, as this species is only in a case for a matter of days! In fact we found quite a number once we got our eyes in. Other species of interest found included Agdistis bennetii (a small larva), Scrobipalpa nitentella (early feeding signs on Sea purslane), Coleophora limoniella (case on Sea lavender), Coleophora albicans (cases on Sea wormwood), Coleophora atriplicis (cases on Sea purslane), Chinese character (larva on Blackthorn on edge of marsh), Calybites phasianipennella (mines and leaf rolls on Dock), Ectoedemia intimella (mine on Grey willow), Epermenia chaerophyllella (larval workings on Hogweed) and Scrobipalpa acuminatella (larval mine on Thistle). 47sp recorded so good for the restricted habitat with a lot of interesting species.

Coleophora atriplicis case on Sea purslane

After lunch, we moved on to the nearby Newbourne Springs SWT reserve for a bit of more traditional leaf mining. Species of note amongst the 48 seen included: Caloptilia semifascia (leaf rolls on Field maple), Stigmella aceris (another site for this increasing species), Nephopterix angustella (spun up berries on Spindle), Coleophora albitarsella (case on Ground Ivy), Phyllonorycter lantanella (mines on Wayfaring tree), Ectoedemia hannoverella (mines on Black poplar hybrid).

Overall a very successful day enjoyed by all.

Neil.

Suffolk Moth Group leaf miner day 7th October – a word of warning.

Neil — Sat, 06 Oct 2018 15:57:49 +0000

This is a warning to anyone planning to attend the leaf miner day tomorrow. There is a motorcycle show going on at Trinity park (Suffolk showground) from 9am onwards which will increase traffic in the general area around the junction between the A14 and the A12. If people planning to come to the leaf miner event and are likely to pass through this area it is worth bearing in mind the potential traffic problems and either find an alternative way around or give yourself more time to navigate the junction.
Weather forecast is looking OK, better than today!

Neil