SMG event Great Yarmouth North denes, Norfolk 17/06/2017.

Posted on 26 June 2017 by Neil

We all packed our passports for this meeting as we were heading just across the border into Norfolk! The sand dune habitat at Yarmouth has produced some interesting sightings in the recent past for group member Brian Jones and he kindly allowed us to join him. Main target for the evening was hopefully the Sand dart.
10 moth-ers met up and 10 traps were deployed (a mix of actinics and mvs) covering the dune grassland and shoreline. It was a warm evening with a very light breeze, perfect conditions for trapping a coastal site!
Moths soon started to appear at the lights in numbers and it was no surprise that Sand dart made an appearance early on. In fact we saw at least 30 by the end of the session. There were a lot of interesting species recorded, mostly on the micro front. It was great to see traps brimming with moths yet again.
Here are the highlights from the list of just over 100sp.
Aethes tesserana, Anerastia lotella (abundant), Aphomia zelleri (a number), Epiblema costipunctana (a few), Archer’s dart (plenty), Cochylis molliculana, Bordered sallow, Shore wainscot (common), Water ermine (2), Rosy wave (3), Nyctegretis lineana, Pediasia fascelinella (2), Lyme grass (5), Platytes alpinella, Eulamprotes wilkella, Striped wainscot (2), White colon (4), Acleris comariana, Ptycholomoides aeriferanus, Cochylis pallidana (at least 50 of this very local tortrix seen), Cydia microgrammana (a few), Dark dagger (checked), Homeosoma nimbella (abundant, again, another very local species). Plus a few more micros to dissect at a later date.
Overall this was in my opinion one of the most interesting moth events I have been to for a while with a lot of scarce species seen including some new micros for me.
Thanks go to Brian for organizing this meeting

Neil

Water ermine

Water ermine

Epiblema costipunctana

Epiblema costipunctana

Nyctegretis lineana

Nyctegretis lineana

Sand dart (male)

Sand dart (male)

Pediasia fascelinella

Pediasia fascelinella

Cochylis pallidana

Cochylis pallidana

Homeosoma nimbella (tbc)

Homeosoma nimbella (tbc)

Sand dart (female)

Sand dart (female)

Posted in Events, Field meetings | Comments Off

Captain’s Wood 14th June

Posted on 23 June 2017 by Raymond Watson

A bit of a lull in the hectic mothing now and perhaps later in the week so I’ll get one of my visits out of the way before the lengthier comments for others. I had a fairly good catch at this site on a good night for mothing. The catch in general mimicked the catches elsewhere at the time Sharp-angled Carpet is doing very well and a number of Red-necked Footman. Lots of Yponomeuta evonymella also Fan-foot, Shaded and Small. I picked up a couple of Aproaerema (Syncopacma) larseniella that I took there last year and another Gelechiid that I was hoping for, Monochroa cytisella. Then there were two surprises that were brilliant a Strophedra nitidana and an Olive Crescent. The site has a lot of Beech and Oak trees. I am of the opinion that the chances of the Olive Crescent breeding at the site are significantly higher than it being an immigrant at this time. I shall be on the look-out for it in future years. There was only one so no competition to Old Hall Wood.

Olive Crescent

Posted in Sightings | 2 Comments

SMG meeting 16/06/2017 – Old Hall wood, Bentley. Olive crescent hunt.

Posted on 23 June 2017 by Neil

3 moth-ers met up for this event. Sadly, Graham had car trouble and had to leave at the start so that just left Tony and myself. The wood is one of a group of old woodland sites south of Ipswich, famous in the past for lepidoptera.  A lot of the wood has been planted in the recent past with conifers but there are still some good areas of broadleaf trees. After a tiring job of carrying the gear into the wood as the track was too overgrown to drive along (something we have done in the past) 4 mv lights were deployed, 2 along the main ride through the wood where the trees were mixed conifer/broadleaf and the other 2 along a side track in the broadleaf area where we recorded Olive crescent a few years ago.
After switch on things were a little slow coming in so we had a wander around the traps and soon found the first Olive crescent. In fact the sheet light was very poor all night so it was good that the traps drew in plenty of moths, especially the 2 along the side track. By the time we had enough at around 2am we had seen at least 20 Olive crescent so it is doing well at this site still.
I have 159sp in my notebook from the night. Other highlights seen include the following.
Clay triple lines (lots, most I have ever seen and the commonest species of macro in the traps), Lobesia reliquana, Alabonia geoffrella, Blotched emerald, Archips crataegana, Spatalistis bifasciana (a good number), Rosy marbled, Lunar yellow underwing, Gold swift, Festoon (good number), Red-necked footman (a few), Epinotia demarniana, Barred yellow, Purple clay, Strophedra weirana (good number), Beautiful hook-tip (doing well this year everywhere), Brindled white spot, Capperia britanniodactyla, Psuedotelphusa scalella (one of this very local species), Incurvaria oehlamanniella, Lobster, Grey arches (good number), Eana incanana, Lilac beauty, Cochylis nana and Luquetia lobella.
Another excellent and interesting field meeting, continuing the theme for the year so far.

Neil

Busy trap at Old Hall wood

Busy trap at Old Hall wood

Olive crescent

Olive crescent

Clay triple lines

Clay triple lines

Posted in Sightings | Comments Off

Meeting this week – going for Friday 23rd.

Posted on 22 June 2017 by Neil

Looking at the weather for Friday/Saturday, Friday is looking the better of the 2 days if we can find some shelter on the site from the breeze. Saturday is looking colder with chance of rain leading up to the event.
So hopefully see some of you there tomorrow evening!

Neil

Posted in Events, Field meetings | Comments Off

SMG event this weekend (23rd/24th June).

Posted on 21 June 2017 by Neil

As the group moved the date of the Great Yarmouth meeting forward to last Saturday (where it was very successful), this weekend is free. The general feeling last week was a return to the brecks would be in order so the venue will be Barnhamcross common just south of Thetford. This is a site we have trapped many times before and is normally very good. Targets for the night will be the breck specialities plus an outside chance of False mocha, a moth that used to be recorded here in the past.
Meeting time will be 9pm in the smaller southern car park at TL864807.

Watching the weather at the moment seeing which will be the best evening. Friday is cloudy but windy while Saturday is clearer but less windy. I don’t think it will be as warm as it is at the moment but should still be reasonable for recording. Will decide probably tomorrow so watch this space.

Neil

Posted in Events, Field meetings | Comments Off

Hectic Mothing

Posted on 21 June 2017 by Raymond Watson

I would imagine in common with everyone else during this superb spell of mothing for June I am overwhelmed. I will post more in due course as I have some very interesting catches. However in the meantime here are two exceptional variants caught at The Patch on 19th June.

Variants

Posted in Sightings | 1 Comment

Just about working …

Posted on 19 June 2017 by paulb

.. and that includes me in this heat!

The title of this post actually refers to my umpteen year old set of clearwing pheromones. Monday’s are reverting back to work at the Hadleigh office again so I took the opportunity today to drag myself up the hill along Corks Lane to look for Six-belted Clearwing. I did see a few males but they didn’t hang around for long .. as clear a sign as any that I probably need to re-order some new lures for 2018. I also tried for Hornet Moth and Orange-tailed C/wing (there’s a Guelder Rose by the car park) but failed to attract anything other than a few odd looks from passers by!

Back home, and the trap has been predictably busy these past too nights. Nothing too out of the ordinary yet but Orange and Swallow-tail Moths are starting to appear, as is Green Silver-lines. I also took a single Fern last night which is less than annual here. Lots of micros and pyrals too. Just wish I could remember what they are from one night to the next. Can’t blame that on the heat though, its more old age ;-)

 

Posted in Sightings, Things to search for | Comments Off

Suffolk Moth group events this weekend.

Posted on 15 June 2017 by Neil

As conditions look favourable this weekend there will be an event on both Friday and Saturday nights.
First, on Friday evening (16th) it will be the planned event for the dates at Old Hall wood, Bentley. Details on the list on the blog, meeting at 9pm. Olive crescent has already been seen in Kent so should hopefully be out for this event.
Saturday, the meeting that was due to take place the following weekend at Great Yarmouth North denes has been brought forward. the main reason for this being that due to the early season this year Sand dart and some of the micros we are hoping for at this event are already on the wing. Forecast for that night is for light winds and warm temperatures so we need to take advantage of this window. There will be discussion at both these events as to what to do on the weekend of the 23rd/24th June instead of Great Yarmouth. Once a new venue is arranged then details will be put up on this blog.

Hope to see some of you at either event, I’ll be attending both hopefully.

Neil

Posted in Events, Field meetings | Comments Off

Yellow-legged clearwing

Posted on 12 June 2017 by Neil

Found another female Yellow-legged clearwing today, this time trapped in my polytunnel up around the workshed complex. Seems to be having a good year with me, so one to look out for.
Also another Currant clearwing this afternoon, attracted to the pheromone around my Currant bushes in the garden.

Neil

Posted in Sightings | 1 Comment

Grass rivulet.

Posted on 11 June 2017 by Neil

Last night (10th) I trapped not one but two Grass rivulets here at IGC. This is a new species for the site but I am wondering where they came from as the foodplant (Yellow rattle) isn’t present close by. I know Matthew took one of these moths recently at Bawdsey and I am wondering if anyone else has picked it up?
Checking the Suffolk guide online there are only a few recent records and no real suggestion there are colonies as they were both single moths. It is a moth I’ve seen at many chalk grassland sites across the UK during the day as it is easily disturbed from the sward.
Something to watch out for in your own traps or daytime visits.

Neil

Grass rivulet

Grass rivulet

Posted in Sightings, Things to search for | 1 Comment