Highlights of last night: Alder Kitten, 4th site record two this year so far ! two in 2010, Puss Moth, European corn-borer, Privet, Eyed,Elephant and Poplar hawk-moths, Water Ermine. I have Puss moth every year but have yet to find one in the actual trap, hence my 3am inspections at this time of year!
I caught a single male Rannoch Looper in one of my traps last night, just shows they are still out there after the main invasion at the start of the month.
It was a good night, with plenty of moths in the traps, in contrast to last week and the weekend when numbers were very poor. 108sp recorded from my 2 lights, with a few other nice moths including Kent black arches, Gypsonoma oppressana, Phyllocnistis saligna, Evergestis pallidata, Pempelia palumbella and Monopis crocicapitella.
Afternoon all. A reasonable selection of moths in the trap this morning, incl. a Pretty Chalk Carpet and my first pronuba of the year. Went to Gallows Hill allotments at lunchtime and had four Currant Clearwings.
A single MVL Robinson trap was operated once again at Bawdsey. Cool and largely clear conditions resulted in much lower numbers and few geometers in the trap. Highlights were Satin Wave and Bordered Sallow.
As an experiment really, I ran my twin 30 Watt actinic Robinson trap here for the first time in the communal garden last night – it’s a bit of a pain sorting out cables etc. 26 species were recorded including L-album Wainscot, two Broad-barred White, Pine Carpet and Burnished Brass.
Another five Rannoch Loopers at Bawdsey to a single MVL Robinson trap on Sunday night. The very busy and wet trap also contained Clouded Buff (second site record), Flame Wainscot (fifth site record – probably a migrant as previous four moths were trapped over a two-day period in June of the vintage migrant year of 2006), Rosy Wave, Dog’s Tooth, many Cream-spot Tiger and White Satin. Hawk-moths included two Privet, three Elephant and singles of Pine, Poplar and Small Elephant. Not many micros – singles of Chilo Phragmitella, Evergestis extimalis and Phlyctaenia perlucidalis were of most interest.
I was up in the North-east of the county yesterday hunting clearwings. After spending a fruitless morning around Carlton marshes SWT reserve (apart from some old Hornet clearwing tunnels in a Poplar tree), I went to North cove SWT reserve in the afternoon. Here I had success, recording one Red-tipped clearwing and two White-barred clearwing, both species coming in to pheromones. The White-barred clearwings are the first records for the county, I suppose it isn’t too surprising the species has been found in the Suffolk broads as it is found at a few sites in the Norfolk broads. The Red-tipped clearwing, looking at the map on the SMG moth guide looks like the first record for VC25, all other records appear to be in the west. On top of these records, I saw a Marsh pug as well, only the second time I have seen that species (the other record was also at this same site).
Neil
Are people recording much Large Nutmeg at the moment? I’ve run a few moth nights this week and have had above average numbers of the moth each night. I’d normally expect to see one or two of the moth but in a couple of places I’ve seen them in double figures. Paul Kitchener in Eye reported having a peak count of 122 in his trap at Eye on 1st June.
In case you’ve not picked up the news from elsewhere – there has been an influx of Rannoch Looper. First Suffolk record I am aware of in this influx is a singleton from Landguard on 3rd June. Four were recorded at Kenton Hills on 4th June at the moth group meeting. Matthew Deans also recorded four at Bawdsey on the same night.
There’s also plenty of other sightings from the southern counties being reported on the email groups.
This proved another popular meeting at this woodland reserve, between Hadleigh and Ipswich. The target of meeting was Barred Umber, a moth not frequently recorded in the county. We had seen a singleton at the wood in the 1997 and the only other recent records have come from the Brandon area.
Seraphim and large numbers of Pseudosciaphila branderiana and Ancylis laetana were seen at the lights, reflecting the large amount of aspen still in the wood. 70+ species were recorded on the night and highlights included Poplar Lutestring, Large Nutmeg, plenty of Broken-barred Carpet, Blotched Emerald and Small Yellow Wave. Unfortunately, we missed out on the target species.
