Suffolk Moths Blog

Had another 41 species on 19th with another Gem and pleasingly also a Delicate. My commonest species is still the Large Yellow Underwing though not much has shifted it off since mid August. Black Rustic and Beaded Chestnut are next on the abundance scale at present. I watched the rain approach last night on the met office site and retrieved my traps before it set in. Not sorted yet but looks like standard autumn species. If we can believe the forecast though it should be productive for a few days after today’s rain stops. Mild, calm and humid.

Rain again last night, from mid-evening, but I left the trap running. 28 species including vestal, rush veneer and rusty-dot pearl. Several others that I think indicate local movement too, such as l-album wainscot, an influx of angle-shades and large wainscot. Feathered thorn now on the wing. Plus sprawler and a great silver diving beetle.

The number of times its happened this year – what promises to be a productive evenings trapping with good temperatures and cloud cover, just as you get set up, the rain sets in and everything gets soaked! This was the familiar pattern again this evening. There were good numbers of moths on the wing until I packed up at 8.30 with a selection of autumn, late summer and winter moths all in the same trap. This included November Moth, Merveille du Jour, Large Wainscot, with Large Yellow Underwing, Snout and Setaceous Hebrew Character representing the stragglers from late summer and the first December Moth of the season. Brindled Green was the most abundant moth of the evening. – The topsy-turvy season continues.

Brian

Only 10 species here in Woolpit. Of the slim pickings, Merveille du Jour, Sallow & Barred Sallow were the best. I also had a Brimstone Moth which seems late to me.

After reading the species totals from Matthew and Raymond at their coastal locations, makes my list of 28sp seem quite poor in comparison, although for me it is better than the last few times I’ve trapped. Ran 2 125w MV traps, one of which was virtually empty! I still maintain my theory that the resident species have been hit very badly here at my site this year by the weather, I would have expected much more to have been trapped. Quite a few empty egg trays. No moths were in double figures, highest recorded were Pine carpet and Rush veneer (the only migrants in the traps) with 7 noted. November moth (3) and Feathered thorn (1) have only just started with me. Best moth recorded was the Epinotia maculana, only my second ever record. 2 Merveille du jour were nice too. Have had 3 Flounced chestnut so far this year, all have been very worn however.

I have continued to check the Ivy clump near my house for moths most nights, still finding things on it feeding on the female flowers but certainly nowhere near the numbers I was getting a few weeks back. Good numbers of Chestnut and Yellow-line quaker are present normally, with the odd sighting of things like Green-brindled crescent, L-Album wainscot and Red-line quaker.

Hopefully with some warm weather predicted for next week the season will carry on for a bit longer, be nice to find either Delicate or Clancy’s rustic in my traps (or both), both would be new for the site – depends whether any manage to bypass Matthew’s lights though!

Neil

Yellow-line quaker on female Ivy flowers.

A better night than of late, with 24 species in the trap. Only surprise was a male (and rather dark) poplar hawk. Never seen one so late.
It’s six years to the night since I had 4 gems and a golden twin-spot. But moths don’t go in for anniversaries.

Thursday night (18th October) produced an absolutely fantastic haul at Bawdsey of 53 species. I would have to check my records but I reckon this must be amongst my highest totals for so late in the year.

The highlights amongst migrants were 1 Diamond-back Moth, 1 Crocidosema plebejana, 12 Rush Veneer, 4 Turnip, 4 Dark Sword-grass, 78 Large Yellow Underwing, 1 Pearly Underwing, 24 L-album Wainscot, 1 Dotted Chestnut (about third Suffolk record?), 13 Angle Shades and 1 Silver Y.

Also late records of Chinese Character, Vapourer and Shuttle-shaped Dart; a Silver Diving Beetle and two Common Darters to light.

Flounced Chestnut – a Bawdsey rarity – was also recorded.

The Clancy’s Rustic – a moth which I added to the Suffolk list in October 2005 – has appeared again at Bawdsey this month.  I’ve had two in the past week, including the most recent on Tuesday night.  Nigel Odin also caught one at Landguard last night.

Other immigrants at Bawdsey this week have included Rusty-dot Pearl, Rush Veneers, Dark Sword-grass, four Delicates, Scarce Bordered Straw and Silver Ys.  Most of these have been the past two nights with the rain and humid southeasterlies. 

One of the other guys at work called me over to see this impressive caterpillar walking across the track near our work-shed area, obviously looking for somewhere to pupate.

Goat moth larva

This is the second time I’ve seen a larva of this species in the vicinity of the sheds, so there must be a ‘Cossus’ tree somewhere close by, especially as I’ve also caught the moth at least twice there too. I’ve now got the larva at home in a pot of wood chips to make its cocoon in. They really do smell very strongly just like the books say!

Neil

Well this is 1 year since I got back to this interest from my youth after a 40 year break. Unlike my starter night I would not have chosen last night to start. 11 species and 22 moths in the MV trap that in 2011 turned up 29 sp and 113 moths. I now also run a twin actinic which only added a further 2 species. I am told that 2012 has been a poor year for moths. I have however been very impressed with the number and diversity I have found this year almost exclusively from trapping in my garden at Hollesley. I am very lucky in my location as I capture, immigrants, coastal, salt-marsh, woodland, heathland, marshland and agricultural species. With somewhere around 750 species recorded in a year I have from the abundant Large Yellow Underwing to three specimens of the rare and first Suffolk record of Gelechia scotinella. I am looking forward to the next year which should raise my species list considerably based on those I have seen here before 12th Oct 2011.