Suffolk Moths Blog

On 5th June Matthew Deans and I wandered down to the saltmarsh patch of the Hollesley Marshes RSPB reserve. My intent was to find Gynnidomorpha vectisana there which I had found last year on the other side of the creek. The objective failed perhaps because of the late season. Only Elachista argentella in large numbers were found in the micro class. However in an attempt to record the object of the exercise we took away some cocoons found in large numbers on Sea Arrow Grass (Triglochin maritima), the foodplant of G vectisana. These have produced Bucculatrix maritima. Literature generally states the foodplant of this species as Sea Aster, I have to date only found Sea Arrow Grass also stated on www.lepiforum.de. Down on our saltmarsh this was undoubtedly the foodplant as they were in a bed of the plant with no Sea Aster.

Following frequent sightings of the exquisite Red-necked Footman on the Peninsula in recent years, the moth appears to have colonised the area. I’ve caught three in recent nights at Bawdsey Hall together with a singleton with Raymond at Hollesley Marshes on saturday night.

Other recent colonists appearing at Bawdsey Hall in the last few days have been the beautiful Evergestis limbata and one of my personal favourites the L-album Wainscot.

Tawny Wave and Marbled Clover were added to the Bawdsey Hall site list on the night of 30 June. Last night (1 July) a Rosy Marbled was a further addition.

From the saltmarsh Mathew’s Wainscot and regular Agdistis bennettii have appeared. A single Striped Wainscot was in the traps this morning.

Hawk-moths still in reasonable numbers; Humming-bird was noted by day last week at Bawdsey Hall – seven species of hawks now recorded here in 2013.  Still awaiting a Pine Hawk this year.

Just back from 2 weeks holiday in France so have been setting the garden trap for the last 3 nights. Lots of firsts for the year with new site records of Clouded Buff last night (30th) and a Freyer’s Pug on the 28th (resting on Juniper during the day). Other moths fairly routine with Beautiful Golden Y, Pine Hawk-moth, regular Eyed Hawk-moth, Scorched Wing and White-point.

On the 29th Brian and I revisited Herringfleet Hills. For the first time we had a generator on the high ground where three traps were run. Setting up I noticed that the Wood Sage had increased 3 or 4 fold, no doubt benefiting from the wet Summer last year on the usually very dry soil. Highlights of the 150 species recorded; Shaded Fanfoot, Dotted Fanfoot, Lunar Yellow Underwing, Alder Kitten, Common Lutestring, Purple Clay, Triple-spotted Clay, again lots of Peacock moth. Micros; Gypsonoma opressana, Epinotia demarniana, Luquetia lobella, Ostrinia nubilalis, Carpatolechia proximella. On the night the most excitement was with Capperia britanniodactylus, the Wood Sage plume. The final trap checked had a Single Red-necked Footman. The site is approximately 2 miles from the Ashby site where we first recorded the species so with Monk’s Hole in between I would hope to get it there too when we visit soon. My 60w actinic Skinner did as well as any trap on the night and had the most Elephant Hawk-moths as well as the A.K. On four nights at four locations, currently, five of six Alder Kitten have been in this trap.
We left at 3.30 am, relieved that Brian had found his car keys in the nettles down the track!

It’s only taken me a couple of years of trying but I finally managed to attract a single male Currant Clearwing to pheromone lure yesterday afternoon at our local allotment.

Ashby Warren is an area on the private part of Somerleyton estate that contains a wonderful mixture of plant-life and habitat. I joined Keith on Thursday evening to set out our 8 traps and spread them out to cover as wide an area as possible. Keith set his out in the heathland/conifer area with my traps deeper in the mixed woodland and we used one of the vehicles to move between the 2 sets because of the distance.
The first trap to be inspected which was deepest in the woodland, provided the surprise of the night and this was in the form of Red-necked Footman. All the trapping Keith and myself have done before in this whole area of NE Suffolk/SE Norfolk has never turned up this species – but 7 came to this one trap, indicating that it is obviously well established here in this woodland that has never been surveyed before.
The woodland is quite unique locally because it contains a large amount of beech and this was reflected in other species trapped that we otherwise never see in our local area including Clay Triple-lines, Stophedra weirana and Cydia fagiglandana (5).
Moths from the Conifers were abundant including Dwarf Pug, Grey, Spruce and Pine Carpet, Tawny-barred Angle (many), Bordered White (many), Barred Red (many) Pine Hawk (several) ) and good micos such as Assara terebrella and Dioryctria simplicella.
Other highlights among the Macros were Common Lutestring (scarce in this area), Small Emerald, Birch Mocha, Lesser Cream Wave, Peacock Moth (23), Alder Kitten, Sycamore, Miller and Alder Moth. Micro’s included Lobesia reliquana and Scoparia basistringalis.
128 species was our best count for the year so far on a night of very heavy cloud, with the traps full of moths and dawn breaking before we had sorted them all out. A long but very rewarding session.

Brian

As the group event to Staverton was cancelled due to the rain, thought I’d put a couple of traps out in the garden instead. Was still raining at dusk and was a bit on the windy side, nearly didn’t bother but thought what the hell. Was to be my last trapping attempt for June also. Come morning, there were a few moths present, mostly run of the mill stuff but was surprised to come across a micro in the twin 30w actinic I didn’t recognize. Has turned out to be Monopis imella, a species I’ve never seen before and hence a new site record. After catching a few new micros last year with yellow heads and unicolorous wings, this is another species like that! Wonder why a number of micros have this colour pattern? Just goes to show that even on poor nights something may just turn up. First new site record caught in the actinic too, hopefully more to come.
As I’m not trapping any more this month, thought I’d look back on the results. To me personally it appears to have been dire, seemingly low numbers of species and quantity. Just looking at the species count for the month, I’ve noted 207sp. I checked back as far as 2003 and this is my poorest June total in that period. Previous worst total was 250sp last year. I would normally expect 260-300sp in a ‘normal’ season here. I’ve not checked the number of times I’ve trapped or anything else, this is just the baseline species count for the month. Seems to back up my initial thoughts. Be interesting to see how July progresses.

Neil

Monopis imella