Suffolk Moths Blog

Brian and I trapped this site for the first time last night, on private land on the Somerleyton Estate. Heathland and woodland habitat. A large site and easy to trap dropping off the traps from the truck along the rides. Cloud cleared briefly dropping the temperature after dark but thin cloud built and lasted throughout.
60 species including Lunar Yellow Underwing which I have been hoping to get on the Estate for a while. Hedge Rustic seldom seen so far up this way. Lots of Tawny-barred Angle and Light Emerald. Several Angle Shades and 30 Silver Y. Pinion-streaked Snout also recorded along with Barred Red, Pine Hawk-moth, Oak Nycteoline. The only Wainscots were singles of Large and Common. Best of the micros probably was Cydia fagiglandana of which we had three from the Beech in the distance. Also D.sylvestrella. The most prolific moth of the night was Water Veneer no doubt from the even more distant Fritton Lake, Where C. fagiglandana was recorded in the Thirties.

A single of the Fleabane feeding migrant – Tebenna micalis – at Bawdsey this morning. I can’t find it on the SMG website moth guide, I think it may be new to Suffolk?  What a coincidence that the other recent ’first for Suffolk’ here – the Small Marbled – is also a Fleabane feeder!

Other migrants included 9 Diamond-back Moth, 4 Rush Veneer, 1 Rusty-dot Pearl, 1 Latticed Heath, 1 Dark Sword-grass, 312 Silver Y and massive numbers of Large Yellow Underwing (estimated 1000).

Traps were heaving with hundreds of Square-spot Rustic and Setaceous Hebrew Character and loads of Angle Shades too.

Late examples of C. culmella and Dark Arches present amongst the hordes.  Still catching Dingy Footman, Dark Spectacle, Coronet and Saltern Ear too.

Was hoping for some cloud cover which never came. Still a warm night but species much lower than previous trappings with 38 recorded. All species identified as have the micro book now. A much appreciated present!
Silver Y’s were present everywhere you looked all day , their numbers beginning to swell the previous night when at 11pm there were three in my kitchen.
Night of 3rd; 19 Silver Y, 10 White-point and good numbers of Rosy Rustic were the highlights. Vines Rustic in good number as has been the case generally here this year.

Still the occasional Dingy and Scarce Footman, Common and Garden Carpet. Have the Red Underwing, Frosted Orange, Feathered Gothic and lots of Vine’s Rustic and Snout but not got into the Chestnuts or Autumn Quakers yet. All the Yellow Underings; Lunar, Lesser, Large, Least, Broad-bordered and Lesser Broad-bordered still around. Pleased to pick up a Square-spotted Clay. And a few but not many micro’s around; Breckland Plume, Chilo phagmitella, Bactra robustana, Clavigesta purdeyi, and Cochylidia implicitana to name some nice ones. Silver Y decreasing from its peak. Looks like some warm weather on the way for a while.

Numbers of moths are continuing to decline with the cooler nights. I have still had no more than single Vine’s Rustics and the thorns seem to be very thin on the ground so far. Last night (2nd September) I had my first Red Underwing, Frosted Orange and Feathered Gothic of the autumn, but best moth went to Svensson’s Copper Underwing (my second in a week). Only 2 Silver Ys.

It was terribly exciting going through the Bawdsey traps this morning looking for a Ni Moth amongst the hordes of Silver Y. At least 364 Silver Y were trapped and probably many more remained hidden in the grass!

Did anyone else pick up on this influx?

The dust has settled and I’ve caught up with some sleep, following the remarkable moth immigration wave experienced recently! Its time to reflect on some of the resident moths being recorded.

A Red-green Carpet at the Bawdsey picnic site on 25 August was noteworthy for being particularly early. Second-brood Mullein Wave and Satin Wave have been on the wing this week. A well-marked Dusky Thorn appeared at the Hall on 26 August.

Amongst the noctuids I’ve seen the first Feathered Gothic, Frosted Orange, Feathered Ranunculus and Centre-barred Sallow this week. Square-spot Rustic now in good numbers with fewer Six-striped Rustic, Hedge Rustic and Small Square-spot.

A terrific year for Coronet – up to ten per night most nights. Also good numbers of Dark Spectacle and large numbers of Turnip – several hundred a night.

Some of the summer species are still hanging on – catching Single-dotted Wave, White Satin, Scarce & Dingy Footman, all the ‘common’ yellow underwings still going and Poplar Hawk-moth. Gold Spot and Leopard Moth were seen on 28 August.

Notable absentees are Red Underwing and Large Thorn – no sign of either yet this season.

Friday night would have been a good night to moth up here as there was no rainfall what so ever and I wished I had put out the traps. Last night was not quite so ideal as there was a good breeze but again I doubted the accuracy of the tv weather forecasts especially as we had no more than odd spots of rain all day and this time I put out the traps as at dusk there were 8 Silver Y in the poly-tunnels. Around 10pm it rained for about half an hour. I shut down one trap at 11.30 as it had far fewer moths than the trap in my most favoured spot on the two acres here. 44 species recorded with a further 15 Silver Y, 4 White-point, four species of Yellow Underwing, with Least absent, have had it only once this Summer, usually regular in the traps.

It was another red-letter day in the moth traps at Bawdsey Hall where I took a specimen of SMALL MARBLED – believed to be the first Suffolk record of this tiny macro-moth – but a most exquisite one!

An increase in migrant moths generally at Bawdsey with 11 Diamond-back Moth, 28 Rush Veneer, a Convolvulus Hawk-moth, eight Dark Sword-grass and 96 Silver Y also arriving on the southerlies last night.

A few species appearing for the first time this season included Pretty Chalk Carpet, Mullein Wave, Dusky Thorn and Feathered Gothic. Also notable were Ethmia bipunctella, two Pebble Hook-tips, Flame Carpet, Satin Wave, Coronet, Bulrush Wainscot and two Square-spotted Clay.