Yesterday evening I took the traps to nearby site that usually has good numbers of moths by late April. It was breezy, but 11 deg. and warmest for many a night. Numbers were very disappointing and the catches at the moment seem to consist of a few worn remnants of the orthosias with just the odd one or two fresh individuals of the mid-spring moths appearing. Singles of Flame Shoulder and Shuttle-shaped Dart were the only new ones for the year.
Brian
I’ve put a guide for the Eriocraniid leaf-miners up in the Articles area that can be accessed from the menu below the blog banner. I’ve not checked recently but the mines should be about now and for a few weeks to come. The group has been previously under-recorded as the adults are not frequently encountered in traps and some can be tricky to identify from the adults.
You can directly access the article here.
Tony
The latest Moths Count project newsletter is now available – if you have a pdf reader you can read it here – Emoth April 2012 Newsletter.
There are a few items of interest – the 3rd National Moth Recorders Conference, the latest refresh of the NBN Gateway from the NMRS, NBN Record Cleaner, National Moth Night 2012 and variety of other snippets.
Tony
Thought I was going to miss out on Frosted Green this year, but the first one turned up last night along with Swallow Prominent, another new for the year. But numbers again very low, just 20 moths of 11 species in 2 & half hours trapping, including 3 nice fresh Brindled Beauty but no micros again. Shoulder Stripe, Early Tooth-striped & Powdered Quaker were all new for the site. The occasional drizzly rain didn’t help and once again, as has been the norm for this month, everything got soaked.
A year ago (23rd April) on this same site I recorded over 30 species.
Brian
Had a bit of look for Adela cuprella again today while the weather was good around lunchtime (it didn’t last unfortunately). Managed to see one moth fluttering over a male Sallow bush that had virtually finished flowering at Newbourne springs reserve. Not too surprising I suppose as the habitat there is very similar to the habitat at IGC where the moth occurs. Also had my first Small copper for the year there too as well as a Green-veined white.
Neil
I was at the BC East Anglian RAP meeting today, which included a field visit to look at some conservation work being done by Butterfly Conservation at Cranwich Camp, Norfolk. I was surprised to see a couple of Oblique Striped and Pyrausta despicata – rather early records for the former species. Not long after the weather turned and it all got a bit wet with a heavy downpour of rain and hail.
Tony
Trap in the garden not that busy this morning, few moths due to the cooler conditions. Nice to add a few more to the year list however, with singles of Water carpet, Brindled beauty and Pale pinion. Always nice to see Pale pinion, wasn’t that many years ago when we never had this moth in the county!
Neil
A slight improvement in weather conditions last night so ran 2 traps up in the woods to see what if anything was about. Not a large number of moths trapped, but at least some new species for the year were recorded including the first prominents – Great prominent and 2 Lesser swallow prominent. Others new for the year included Lunar marbled brown, Nut-tree tussock and Elachista canapennella (2). Frosted green still in low numbers with 4 recorded.
After reading Neil’s excellent blog on Adela cuprella I have been keeping an eye out for this micro, but the weather has not been ideal. This morning the sun came out at last and I had a look at a clump of willows I pass almost every day on the bank of Breydon Water, right next to the Breydon bascule bridge. I counted 26 flying about on the leeward side of the clump, but as soon as the sun went in they alighted on the flowers and I managed to get a reasonable photo of one, a female I think with darker antenna and another of them in flight. Thanks Neil for the helpful information, it’s a new moth for me. It will go down as a Norfolk record as it was about 100 yards over the border.
Last night I had my earliest ever Grey Pine Carpet, yet on this same site, there is still no evidence of several of the earlier species. Strange season this!
Brian
After getting the go-ahead from Beccles Town Council to run moth traps on Beccles Common, I decided to take the traps there this evening. Not the best of days, it was very cool after the heavy rain during the day, but not having trapped there before, it was an opportunity to weigh up the site and the possibilities for the future. I chose the woodland area which has a good mix of species including mature oak, poplar, aspen, birch & sycamore. Very easy site to trap and even after the rain, no mud. Looking forward to going there again on a better night. No great quantity of moths but in 2 hours trapping, I was surprised to get 13 species including all the 7 more common Orthosias (including Lead-coloured Drab), 2 Pugs including Oak-tree, Early Tooth-striped and my first Prominent of the year which was Lesser Swallow.
So first Swallow of the year was not the bird but a moth!
Brian
