Suffolk Moths Blog

No ideal moth nights but regular autumn species and one or two of interest. Still no Red-green Carpet but do have a number of Common Marbled, Grey Pine and Pine Carpets. Autumnal Acleris by way of variegana and rhombana. A newly emerged third brood Shuttle-shaped Dart and a Scarce Bordered Straw. I took one of these last year too, perhaps more to come? Beaded Chestnut is threatening to take the top spot of the Large Yellow Underwing and that would be very welcome. Had a nice ab. flavescens of the Sallow too.

Previously trapped 10 nights ago with 12 species. Last night 14 species with season firsts for Green-brindled Crescent 2, Red-line Quaker 2, Blair’s Shoulder-knot 9, Grey Shoulder-knot, Barred Sallow. Beaded Chestnut the most common moth. Conditions on the night not as good as I was expecting with cloud cover not arriving from the South-east until daybreak. Potential for a few good nights this week!

Out again this evening to different parts of the village. The forecast was for 12 celsius but it was certainly lower than that as my breathe was frosting. After 5 minutes cycling along and checking, nothing was on show. However, being north-facing, it was mostly yet to flower, so understandable perhaps. Eventually I came across two Angle Shades on an ivy-shrouded Horse Chestnut when I had moved out to open farmland. The temperature had risen as well. A few more trees along and again nothing until I came to another Horse Chestnut and this had another Angle Shades and a Setaceous Hebrew Character. It then occurred to me that I should check the other side of the tree (south-facing). I was glad I did as it was covered – Angle Shades (7), Setaceous Hebrew Character (5), Sallow, Large Yellow Underwing, Silver-Y (netted flying in), Chestnut and two others cooling off in the fridge – a Carpet and a pyrale.

I re-traced my steps and it was only when I got back to the first Horse Chestnut that things took off again. The south-side was more productive and featured Black Rustic, Green-brindled Crescent, L-album Wainscot and Square-spot Rustic. There were singles of Large Yellow Underwing, Chestnut and Brick and the Angle Shades count was four, but outdone by Setaceous Hebrew Character (7).

The SHC’s were the only moths that seemed bothered with the light and actively sought shelter behind the foliage.

So, why were the chestnuts so popular? Was it the greater leaf cover that was keeping the temperature up a bit below the canopy. That would seem to be the logical answer.

I think that there is at least another week of flowering left in the north-facing places especially.

Tony, Paul and myself went for a search around the Ivy clumps along the country lanes at Little Blakenham last night, the same area we went to last year (on the 29th September, so a bit earlier) where we had a good count of 22 species including both Dusky lemon and Pale lemon sallows. However this year the species count and the number of moths seen was much lower, with 11sp on the Ivy,  Herald on Blackberries and a Mallow moth flying around its food-plant, not surprisingly some Mallow! Interesting species noted on the Ivy included L-Album wainscot, Silver Y (2), Sallow and Barred sallow.
We were a bit on the late side this year to catch the Ivy at its best, quite a lot of it had finished flowering, possibly why we didn’t see so many moths. A breeze also picked up whilst we were there, this making it feel colder than when we first arrived. Certainly a nice big clump that was in full bloom didn’t seem to have much on it. This was in complete contrast to the patch in my own garden that I checked once I got home, as you will read in my other report!

Neil

A bumper selection of moths at Ivy last night. A stroll along three stretches in Stutton between 2030-2145hrs, produced 29 moths of 13 species. I have to say it was absolutely great fun. The two members of S.M.o.G. (Stutton Moth Group) become quite deft with a walking pole and a net by the end of the session when it came to knocking moths off taller plants. It was interesting to observe the range of flowering dependent on location. The north-facing ivy was mostly still to flower for example.

Anyway, the list:

Lunar Underwing 1
Chestnut 3
Flounced Rustic 1
Square-spot Rustic 1
Common Marbled Carpet 2
Brick 2
Snout 1
Lesser Yellow Underwing 1
L-album Wainscot 1
Grey Shoulder-Knot 1
Autumnal Rustic 1
Dark Sword-Grass 1
Angle Shades 13

I cycled around other parts of the village this afternoon to locate other likely looking spots and I have to say, I could be out all night.

Neil – please send some of your Sallows this way!

Pound for pound there are few more eye-catching moths than the merveille du jour; wings like mint icing-sugar! My first in the garden trap this year was 3rd Oct, along with the first green-brindled crescent and what seems to be an influx of Vine’s rustic. Last night (4th) produced the first red-line quaker and chestnut. Commonest moth by far is lunar underwing. No obvious migrants still, except the occasional white-point, which probably isn’t.

After having kept a record of numbers and dates for the last few years, absences take on an unexpected significance. This autumn I’m most worried about my large wainscots, which still haven’t put in an appearance.

Finally, I was inspired by Neil’s comments to look at my large patch of ivy blossom. So far (after about four nights over the past week) I’ve seen nothing, even when the trap has been attracting fair numbers of moths. Of course, it could be my ageing eyes…

Yesterday evening (4th October) looked promising so I ran the trap in the garden for 3 hours before the rain arrived. 15 macro species recorded including the first Merveille du Jour (2) of the year. Barred Sallow (5) again the commonest moth with Beaded Chestnut, Silver Y (2), Brindled Green and White-point.

A very good number of moths on the Ivy clump close to the garden last night, so many thought it would be of interest to publish the whole list so it can be seen what is possible to find just using a torch searching the flowers.

Orange sallow-1
Sallow-1
Pink-barred sallow-2
Large yellow underwing – 8
Brindled green-1
Lesser yellow underwing-10
Square-spot rustic-10
Chestnut-30 (at least)
Red-green carpet-4
Angle shades-5
L-Album wainscot-4
Feathered ranunculus-1
Lunar underwing-4
Brick-1
E.monodactyla-1
Yellow shell-1
Black rustic-1
Oak nycteoline-1
Barred sallow-2

Again, probably more moths than I would have seen if I had run a trap as it was a bit breezy.

Neil