Suffolk Moths Blog

Following on from the success of discovering the White-mantled Wainscot at Iken last Saturday night, I ran two lights in the same area by the river wall overnight on 31 July.

It was an early 4am start before work, the highlights of c50 species including Scoparia subfusca, Trachycera suavella, Lesser Cream Wave, Latticed Heath, White Satin, Antler and Dotted Fan-foot with the best moth a single Crescent-striped. No neurica were recorded although it was a quieter night than Saturday.

I also deployed two traps in a wooded copse to try and record some woodland moths for the site. Around a hundred species were noted here including Small Scallop, Purple Thorn, Large Emerald, Short-cloaked Moth, Canary-shouldered Thorn, Lesser-spotted Pinion, Slender Brindle, Rosy & Buff Footman and a single Twin-spot Carpet – a moth I rarely see.

As with others the 23rd was a big catch, my best to date with 160 species identified to date. The other days during our summer were good too. It has been time consuming work for me to get through the new micros to my developing site list.
Abundant species have been Common Footman, Dark Arches, Large Yellow Underwing and Willow Ermine. Quite a few Dingy, Rosy and a few Scarce add to the footman list each catch. After getting a few Rivulets with double indentation I now have some true Small Rivulet.
Some of the macros new to my site list: Plain Wave, Blue-bordered Carpet, Small Emerald, Narrow-winged Pug, Plain Pug (2 other Pugs still to ID), Silky Wainscot, White Line Dart, Olive, Ear (species to ID) and of interest- a melanic Coronet. For the micros, well a selection of attractive and also less common:- Zeiraphera ratzenbergiana, Cydia coniferana, Oncocera semirubella, Nymphula nitidula, Aethes rubigana, Enarmonia formosana and Dicrorampha alpinana. Three species of Caloptilia of which one still unidentified. Regular Sciota adelphella. Have also been identifying the Cnephasia. At present these are dominated by C.stephensiana, longana and asseclana with a few C. genitalana and pumicana. Also the Coleophora:- serratella, sternipennella, vestianella, saxicolella, anatipennella, argentula, ibipennella and albitarsella.

As the last few nights have been poor for trapping, I’ve taken a break to catch up on last week. Certainly was quite good at times, although some nights were clear so there were lower numbers caught. The best night was the 23rd when I caught just over 150sp, this night I’ve already covered in another message. Other nights I caught 80-110sp, sometimes only running one trap instead of the usual 2 depending on time available. Moths of note included the following.
Golden plusia (first site record, a female in the garden trap. Has it been drawn to the garden by the Delphiniums that I planted specifically for this species last year I wonder?), Least carpet (has been in good numbers this year), Yponomeuta rorrella (picked up a few of the immigrant wave of this species), Vitula biviella (regular), Sharp-angled carpet (first record for a few years), Grass emerald, Eucosma conterminana, L-Album wainscot, Saltern ear, Chocolate tip (first for year, no spring brood seen at all here this year), Lilac beauty, Lunar yellow underwing, Oak eggar, Recurvaria leucatella, Festoon, Slender pug, Teleoides vulgella, Suspected, Kent black arches and Caloptilia populetorum.

Here is a photo of moth of the week for the site for me, the Golden plusia.

Neil

I deployed two traps by the reedbeds at Iken on Saturday night in the hope of finding the White-mantled Wainscot.

A single trap was also set along the river wall in the hope of seeing some saltmarsh species.

On Sunday morning I inspected the river wall trap first as it was more exposed. There were few saltmarsh species but quite a few moths had been lured from the adjacent reedy dyke. Highlights included White Satin, Dotted Fan-foot, Lesser Cream Wave, Sycamore, Antler, Star-wort, Fen Wainscot, Small Scallop, Suspected, Miller and a single example of White-mantled Wainscot!

I then cleared the two reedbed traps where I had thought the neurica would be. Highlights here included two Rush Veneer, Dotted Fan-foot, Fen Wainscot, Ear Moth, Kent Black Arches, Early Thorn, Round-winged Muslin, Dog’s Tooth, Reed Dagger and two Brown-veined Wainscot but no neurica.

A fabulous catch at Bawdsey on Friday night with c140 species identified. Some of the smaller micros were not retained due to lack of time to identify! Highlights included Clouded Magpie which is new to Bawdsey and the 10km square and a single specimen of the migratory pyralid Oncocera semirubella.

The real spectacle though was the large arrival of the Willow Ermine with c200 recorded – the two traps were covered in them as was the surrounding grass.

Also recorded were two Sciota adelphella, one Evergestis limbata, two European Corn-borers, one Rush Veneer, Kent Black Arches, Fen Wainscot, Star-wort, Lesser Cream Wave, Dark Spectacle, White Satin, Vapourer, Garden Tiger, Small Rufous, Lesser-spotted Pinion, Barred Red, Purple Thorn, White-line Dart, Buff Footman, Dark Spinach, Broad-barred White and Plain Pug.

As this is my first posting I will introduce myself and my regular garden site in North Suffolk. I have been recording macro-moths in the garden for the last 18 months using a single Skinner trap. The garden overlooks Great Green: 20 acres of acid grassland, marshy hollows and scrub.

The excellent weather over the last few days has resulted in several good records. Beautiful Hook-tip (a local speciality) reached a peak count of 7 adults on 18 July. Minor Shoulder-knot was recorded on 3 nights with 2 on 24 July. Orange Moths are regular with 3 on 26 July. I find that Orange Moths are out and about early in the evening but are great escape artists and are rarely found in the trap by morning.

Rosy Footman was a new site record on 24 July. Other notable moths include Lunar-spotted Pinion, Southern Wainscot and Least Carpet on 26 July, and Scarce Silver-lines, Toadflax Pug and White Satin Moth last night.

Back last night on the private estate and a distinct improvement – understandable given the weather. 34 macros, 8 micros but a considerable increase in volume with 170 moths. Scarce Footman the most common with 31. Best moths were Lunar Yellow Underwing and in a bizarre piece of coincidence a Silky Wainscot. Like Paul in his earlier post this also had me puzzled and it was only after seeing that, did I consider this species. First Black Arches (2) of the season, 11 Rosy Footman, Pine Hawk and the first of the second generation Vine’s Rustic.

Clive Moore, Tony Prichard and I ran three lights last Sunday night at the regular trap site at Spexhall where we were joined by local moth-er Tony Hopkins.

Highlights were P. Inopiana, a male Orange Moth, four Muslin Footman and two Beautiful Hook-tips.