Suffolk Moths Blog

My first moth-trapping session of this season was on the night of 24 March, at one of my regular survey sites near Halesworth. The night was warm and cloudy, with a minimum temperature of around eight degrees – perfect conditions for spring mothing in March.
I was not disappointed as c650 moths were trapped of 20 species. The bulk of the catch consisted of hordes of Common Quaker, Small Quaker and Hebrew Character.
A single Yellow-horned was a welcome ‘first’ for the site as was Lead-coloured Drab (2 individuals trapped).
Other species noted included Acleris notana/ferrugana, Tortricodes alternella, Diurnea fagella, March Moth, Dotted Border, Shoulder-stripe, Oak Beauty, Pale-brindled Beauty (a late example), Twin-spotted Quaker, Clouded Drab and Red Chestnut.
The ‘hibernators’ put in a good showing with many Chestnut and Satellite along with two Grey Shoulder-knot and a single Pale Pinion.

Not much to shout about really in the moth traps I’ve run recently. Still feels a bit on the cool side. Quite often I’ve put a trap on at dusk in seemingly good conditions only for it to rain or the wind to start blowing shortly afterwards!
This was exactly what happened last night, again. Still a few moths came in – 9sp in all. Of minor interest were the 25 Yellow horned present, rest the usual mix of low numbers of Orthosias and Chestnut etc.
I’m guessing by the lack of reports on this blog others are struggling also. With more cool conditions being talked about for the future it’s not looking that promising a start to the year.

Neil

Have run a couple of traps here the last 2 nights in this very brief mild spell, the first time I’ve bothered this month (not been inspiring weather really).
The 18th brought in 10sp and around 100 moths to 2 mvs. Plenty of March moth and Tortricodes alternella making up the bulk of the catch. Best of the rest Acleris cristana (nice black and white form), Small brindled beauty (8), Dotted borders and a Dotted chestnut. No Spring ushers so that seems over here now.
19th, a damp night but still mild brought in 9sp and just over 90 moths, running an mv plus a 20w wem. More of the same really with 9 Small brindled beauty and the first Common quaker of the year the pick of the bunch.
I also went out after dark last night to check an area of sparse acid grassland on the site to see if there were any Lunar yellow underwing larvae about and was rewarded with 14 found in quite a short space of time. This shows my heathland management work here is benefitting the species which I am quite pleased about.

Neil

Acleris cristana

Several contributors have described 2017 as ‘a good year’. But I must admit I didn’t find 2017 to be special at all.

My formative years as a moth-hunter were in the ’60s. I remember buying some second-hand books at an AES exhibition around 1965 (titles included ‘Days with a Butterfly Net’ and ‘A Moth-hunter’s Gossip’), which were written in the ’30s and were lamenting the decrease in butterflies and moths that had occurred in the 1900s. When I explored some of the best British sites and habitats in the mid-60s I found many species had declined or disappeared since those books were written – in fact the ‘40s and ’50s were considered black decades for wildlife conservation. Then in 1980 I went to live in Northumberland and when I came back south, to Suffolk in 2005, I was disheartened to see how sparse most moths had become in the meantime: it was something I hadn’t expected. And having exhumed my Suffolk garden records from a decade ago I find the total numbers of moths has decreased again: the best nights in late July/August 2017 are only 60% of what they were in the ‘average’ years of the mid ‘00s.

So, in my mostly ‘anecdotal’ experience, we are now seeing only fractions of fractions of what moths were around a century or so ago (I would hazard an estimate of less than 5%). The decline has been continuous and has accelerated. The future isn’t looking bright.

I must admit, I wasn’t here in June/early July so I missed the best of ’17. I spent those balmy (too hot) weeks in France: I have always thought the ‘typical’ French countryside resembles what Britain was like fifty to a hundred years ago, but French naturalists are quick to point to a similar decline in moth numbers there. There seems to be no way to escape the eco-disaster that may be unfolding.

If I was a teenager now I hope I would be more optimistic. Having spent most of my life in conservation and environmental education I can’t help but think my generation has failed – we have spawned Donald Trump and global warming, and have supported, by proxy, the despoliation and sterilisation of the British countryside. Not to mention the advent of Boris Johnson, Ant and Dec and neonicotinoids. Maybe we don’t deserve any better.

Sorry for this unseemly rant, but it’s probably better out than in. My only moth sighting this past week has been a dotted border at the kitchen window. But it’s a pretty creature and it gave me a lot of pleasure.

Tony H.

2017 was a very good year for my garden here at Carlton Colville with 415 species and 12629 individuals. This was an increase over 2016 of 50 species mainly due to looking closer at the micros with help from Raymond Watson and others in the group for which I am very grateful. I am very surprised at the numbers and species I get with my house being on a modern estate but fortunately only about 1 mile from the coast and close to Carlton marsh which possibly helps.

After all the gloom and doom regarding our moths in 2016 both out in the field and here at my home trapping area 2017 turned out to be completely different. In fact it was a record breaking year for me here with 842 species noted (19 new site records in this total), beating my previous highest by almost 100 species. This is quite a major improvement compared to the species total in 2016 which was 689 species.
I’ll never know for sure why this was but there are a few things that probably helped. There was a cold spell over the winter (in January), something I think is vital for the overwintering stages of moths. There were good warm spells especially in June and early July which always helps with getting better catches. Mild spells in the autumn too, good for migrants and also second generations of earlier summer moths as well as some of the immigrant species that arrived earlier and bred. It wasn’t all good however with September being a month that sticks in the mind as being very poor due to cool weather, meaning that a few regular species didn’t make an appearance here this year – Heath rustic, Bulrush wainscot and Webb’s wainscot being examples.
Having already heard from another Suffolk recorder that it was their second best ever year for species, how was it for others?

Neil