Suffolk Moths Blog

Should be good tonight too but then gets windy. Not quite as many as Neil but 105 plus species. Still have some micro’s to ID and a few to confirm. 17 plus new to my site list but also had 4 new from the night of the 25th which were Bird’s Wing, Dicrorampha petiverella, Blastobasis adustella and Notocelia trimaculata. Those new last night as currently identified are True Lover’s Knot, Clouded Silver, Garden carpet, Bordered White, May Highflier, Small Fanfoot, Hedya nubifera, Lyonetia clerkella, Epiblema scutulana, Gypsonoma dealbana, Apotomis turbidana, Agapeta hamana, Parapoynx stratiotata, Ostrata nubilais, Achroia grisella, Dichrorampha simpliciana and Lozotaenia forsterana. Two Argyresthias two Gelechidae and two Coleophora still to identify. Identification efficiency much improved after purchasing the new micro book.

The warm humid conditions last night were excellent for moth recording. I ran 2 traps in a reedbed/heathland area on the course and noted 116sp. Moth of possible interest included: Small seraphim, Epinotia demarniana, Tortrix viridana (well over 400), Aleimma loeflingana (150+), May highflyer (4), Gold swift (1 large female), Cochylis nana, Capperia britanniodactyla (3), Brachima inornatella (5, first site records at this spot only last year so looks like it has colonized, a plus for our conservation work in that area), Dotted fan foot (2), Shaded fan foot (a freshly emerged individual and first for year), Broad barred white, Epinotia subocellana and Gelechia muscosella. Nice to have a bag full of moths to sort out at home after work for the first time this year!

Looking promising again for tonight so hopefully there will be more full traps tomorrow, have to make the most of it this year as it probably won’t last long!

Neil

Warm, humid and muggy conditions overnight produced a haul of 110+ species at Bawdsey. Some signs of immigration too with a Diamond-back Moth, two European Corn-borers and a pristine Red-necked Footman. Other nice bits and pieces included E. extimalis, P. perlucidalis, P. formosa, D. abietella, Satin Wave, Treble Brown Spot, Magpie, Sharp-angled Peacock, Barred Red, Water Ermine, Alder Moth, Bird’s Wing and Cream-bordered Green Pea. Common species appearing at the traps for the first time this year included Scarce Footman, Smoky Wainscot and Common Rustic.

Last years Leaf Miner day took us along the old Hadleigh Railway Line, just off of which is a small area comprising mixed woodland and heath – known locally as ‘The Fuzz’. At the top of this small hill I noticed a small group of apple trees. I made a mental note to revisit the site when the time was right. Well, today was the day and … after a bit of wait … I managed to attract an adult Red-belted Clearwing to my ‘myo’ lure. Unfortunately, it evaded all attempts at capture so you’ll just have to take my word for it for the time being.

Got my first Lime Hawk I had been waiting for. Need a Small Elephant and Bedstraw now to have all the local with breeding population. Have seen the Broad Bordered Bee in the past so expect that.
Also new to my site list were:- Large Twin-spot Carpet, Riband Wave, Ingrailed Clay, Gold Spot, Hedya nubiferana, Pexicopia malvella, Ditula angustiorana, Crambus pascuellus and Notocelia rosaecolana.

After the cancellation of Thelnetham on Saturday, I planned to trap another brownfield site – what is left the old railway sidings and yard abandoned 50 years ago (part of it is a supermarket). But wind and rain set in and it would have been a waste of time on such an open site so I ran the trap in the garden with fairly good results (inc. Mompha subbistrigella).
Not to be outdone, I tried the old sidings last night as the wind had died down. Of the 15 macros species, only ones of note were a Dark Sword-grass and a very fresh Buff Arches. The micros were a bit more interesting and included Isotrias rectifasciana (a regular site for this species), E. cana, Diamond-back Moth x 5 and indicating the proximity of the nearby saltmash, the most abundant moth of the night was the plume species Agdistis bennetii x 7 plus a few Scrobipalpa probably instabilella from the abundant sea-purslane, although the wing markings are similar to nitentella. Will need g/d to be sure.

Brian