Suffolk Moths Blog

I found a single specimen of Nemaxera betulinella in one of my traps this morning, a moth I’ve never seen before and according to the Suffolk moth guide it is the first Suffolk sighting since 1937.

Other notable moths seen included Lunar yellow underwing (1), Kent black arches (3), Grass emerald (3), Pempelia genistella (1), Vitula biviella (2), Yponomeuta rorrella (1), Shaded fan foot (2) and Capperia britanniodactyla (2). 107sp in total, not too bad but lower than I would expect for this time of year, possibly due to the sky clearing out just after dusk.

A bumper night for me at IGC last night. With the temperature still  25 degrees C at 10p.m and cloudy, muggy conditions it was all set to be very good. Final total was 208 sp. from my 2 125w Robinson traps.
Loads of interesting stuff, a few listed below.

Small mottled willow
Festoon (8+)
Purple clay (2)
Shaded fan foot (5+)
Dotted fan foot (2)
Marbled brown (a specimen of the rare black form)
Gold swift
Cosmopterix lienigiella
V-Moth (escaped before it was potted up unfortunately!)
Brachima inornatella

Storms arrived this afternoon so I guess that will be the end of the good trapping conditions for a while.

Just got back from my short break to Cumbria/South Wales and had a wander round the garden to check on the crops in the veg patch and lo and behold there was a Currant clearwing sunning itself on one of our Blackcurrant bushes, a first sighting of one for the garden.

A bit cloudy and breezy at lunchtime but I popped out to Broom Hill, Hadleigh – just a few minutes walk from the office – to try my luck for Six-belted Clearwing and was pleasantly surprised to see at least six males in no time at all!

As per my previous experiences they seemed to responded very quickly to the api lure and were found to be present around most of the trefoil patches on the upper part of the hill. Also a few Six-spot Burnets flying around plus several bumblebees, Common Skippers and what looked like Meadow Browns.

I was pleased to find a single Large nutmeg in my garden trap this morning – this is only the third record for IGC in 17 years of trapping, its a real rarity here! Not much else of note from the list of 56sp apart from Barred yellow and 2 more Dun Bar.

Another good night for me on the golf course, this time trapping in an area of reedbed/heathland/woodland. 124sp, amazingly including another 2 new moths for the site (see below). No Rannoch Looper this time however.

Cosmopterix liengiella – new to site
Brachima inornatella (2) – new to site – Nice for me to see these scarcer reed specialist sp moving in as I’ve restored the reedbed from Sallow scrub in recent years.
Epinotia subocellana
B. pinicolella
Purple clay – 2
Southern wainscot
C. britanniodactyla
Plain wave – first for year
Shaded fan foot – 3
Miller
Suspected

Weather has gone downhill for moths today with lots of much needed rain so no trapping tonight, gives me a chance to catch up on record entry and photographing all the nice moths from this week!

I forgot to add to the list above the sighting of a Dun-bar, we all know what that moth means – high summer!

Here is a short list of the notable things seen in my traps last night run in an area of Alder carr woodland. Not so many species – 93, but some real quality.
Rannoch Looper – another male – first one was still in fridge! Bit worn this time though.
Phoenix – New to site, tried many times for this as there is loads of wild currant in the alder carr wood on the golf course
Archips crataegana – 2, new to site
Calybites phasianipennella
Olindia schumacheriana – 5
July highflyer (1) and May highflyer (25+)
Sharp angled peacock – 2
A. verbascalis
Grey arches
Euz. cinerosella (third site record)
Eana incanana
N. duplicella
Bucculatrix cidarella (2) – never seen the adult of this moth before, only leaf mines.