I’ve been holding off on choosing the night for this meeting due to the changing weather. It is a choice between a warmer night that could be wet tomorrow or a dry but clear and probably cold night on Saturday. I am favouring the Friday night and risking it, guess we can decide at the venue whether to go ahead.
So see you tomorrow evening if you are intending to come along.
Neil
. This is for those who pack away traps in the dark. Last Autumn I was out on the Somerleyton Estate with a licensed bat study group. I found it odd that the most used light on their head torches was a constant red. They seemed less obtrusive and visibility close up was good. My previous head torch had two white light settings and a flashing red but the one I received as a present had a fixed red and the two whites and out with Brian I thought I would give the red lamp a go. I discovered at packing up time there was a distinct advantage to packing up under a red light. After thoroughly checking the trap you can switch off the moth light immediately. Moths start to disperse straight away as if you were not there while you can pack away the trap quicker as you only have to knock the moths off once and they are not swarming around the trap light on the ground or a torch or lantern and they don’t fly around the head torch as not attracted to the red light. This saves time and almost no stow away moths on the gear or in the car.
I’ve been rather quiet of late, sorry Tony, a man who as I recall catches far more than his fair share of Vestal, considering his location!!! If you really want to see Alder Kitten then your best bet would be to arrange to come out with me and Brian sometime, and you are very welcome to do so should you ever wish.
I have started late this year in-fact only two moth nights under my belt for the whole year these being Saturday as in Brian’s blog and Monday at home. The real highlight for me at home was Saturday with a lot of daytime migration evident. Painted Lady passing through throughout the day but a first in having two Hummingbird Hawk-moths together in my long gravel border on the fence and Red Valerian. The Sunday and Monday a singleton at the same location. Inspired by the tally with Brian I trapped at home Monday night. 78 species total. Nothing exceptional apart from the numbers of Rustic Shoulder-knot which were very high. Lots of moths in pristine condition as Saturday. Nice to get a Clouded Drab as thought I had missed out on them this year and the usual specials Gold-spot, Water Ermine and Cream-bordered Green-pea. No Alder Kitten. Migrants were Silver Y 5 and Diamond-back 10. G oppressana probably the best micro.
3 moth-ers attended this first meeting of the year. 4 traps (1 actinic) were placed along one of the woodland rides leading down to a large grassy clearing. There are a good mix of trees within this wood, with Aspen, Beech, Oak, Birch and a few pines close to the trapping spot we chose.
It was a warm evening so it wasn’t too long before moths started to appear and we were kept busy recording right from the word go. About an hour after setting up the owner of the wood, his wife plus a French family that were staying with them joined us to observe some of the catch. It was good that we had plenty to show them including crowd pleasing species like Cream-spot tiger and Lime hawk. They went away after a while suitably impressed with the moth fauna of the wood.
By the time we called it a night at 2am we had amassed an impressive 110sp. Notables among this list included: Poplar lutestring, Incurvaria oehlmanniella, Beautiful Golden Y, Brindled white spot, Cream wave, Lobesia reliquana, Pammene germinana, Alder moth, Cochylis nana, Coronet, Red-necked footman (2 – almost certainly a resident population within the wood rather than these being migrants), White-pinion spotted, Pseudotelphusa scalella (probably best moth of the night, a scarce micro found in other woods close by. No photo sadly as it evaded capture!), Ancylis laetana and Cydia cosmophorana.
We also had a few species that I would say are early: Rosy footman and Large yellow underwing.
Overall a very enjoyable and successful first recording meeting, hopefully more are to come. Also nice to see a good number of moths about after the terrible year last year.
Neil
First humming-bird hawk of the year on the garden valerian this afternoon, plus a couple of painted ladies.
Puss moth and small clouded brindle (first here for ten years) in the MV last night. Some common species doing especially well this Spring – notably cinnabar and buff ermine.
Tony H.
It has been an excellent start to the season here at Bawdsey. I’m always short of time and doing far too much, so here is a summary of the highlights:
Blossom Underwing: 2 immigrant examples on 31 March.
Nut-tree Tussock: 1 on 11 April – long-overdue ‘first’ for Bawdsey.
Chamomile Shark: singles on 11 & 15 May – the first here for a few years.
Seraphim – single on 15 May. ‘Second’ for Bawdsey – first record only last year.
Flame Wainscot – single immigrant examples on 15 & 23 May.
PURPLE CLOUD – 27th British record and third Suffolk record of this stunning immigrant on 22 May. A ‘first’ for Bawdsey.
Buttoned Snout – recorded in small numbers here annually. Noted on 23 & 27 May.
Concolorous – four singletons recorded as follows: 26, 27, 28 & 30 May. The first Bawdsey records. It is not known at this stage if they are migrants or resident in the area. An immigrant was recorded during this period at Kingsdown, Kent so suggests immigration.
Shore Wainscot – the first Bawdsey record on 27 May. Previously looked for on the beach and not found.
Grass Rivulet – the first Bawdsey record on 27 May. Well away from any known colonies. Possibly of immigrant origin. Other extra-limital records reported nationally in past week.
Ethmia terminella – recorded annually in small numbers. First of the year on 27 May.
Oblique Carpet – single on 28 May – first noted here last year.
Beautiful Hook-tip – particularly high numbers around recently; eight on 30 May.
Bordered Straw – first of the season on 28 May.
Pima boisduvaliella – first of the season on 29 May.
Puss Moth – single on 29 May.
Reed Dagger – single on 29 May.
Small Mottled Willow – first of the season on 29 May.
Red-necked Footman – single on 29 May.
Silver Barred – single on 30 May.
Nick Mason has also recorded highlights of Blair’s Mocha on 24 May and Flame Wainscot on 28 May in Hollesley village.
For those of you who hanker after the rare ones and those who get them. I have been through 2 two days of frustration and have now given up!
On 28th May, which is the night when thunderstorms came up from the south I captured an Agrotera nemoralis at The Patch. I took it home to photograph. After a spell in the fridge I took it out to photo. It appeared settled and then just as I was about to click it took off. Instead of going to the window, as most do, it decided to fly into the dark places in the room and disappeared! After failing to surface over two nights I have spent this morning searching through dust, spiders webs and tonnes of spider victim moths to no avail. I will have to settle my mind now and get back to routine. If it does appear in future that will be a bonus, but such frustration! It is the second Suffolk record (if accepted).
No photo yet but I was really chuffed to find a pristine Toadflax Brocade (Calophasia lunula) in the trap this morning. This has been on my radar as a potential addition to the garden list for some time now … and is as good a reason as any to get on with establishing some Purple Toadflax in the garden!
It’s high time I blogged again. In truth the Spring hasn’t been noteworthy with me – my garden MV has stubbornly failed to catch anything new or very exciting – in fact most of May up to 16th had very low total numbers. Since then things have built up and are probably as near normal as ‘normal’ is these days. Last night’s total catch was 220 macros of 50 species. Highlights were a couple of coronets and a maple prominent.
Looking at one of my old notebooks I see that I first used a moth trap (as opposed to dusking) exactly 52 years ago. This qualifies me to be a Grumpy Old Aurelian. I have two current grumbles. The first is that I do wish more people would contribute their experiences on this site; I applaud stalwarts like Keith, Raymond, Brian and Paul, but I don’t understand why other good experienced moth-hunters can’t share their knowledge with riffraff like me. The second is a specific rail against the entomological fates. I know I am a lazy recluse and a little bit shy of social gatherings like moth nights, so perhaps I don’t deserve any better. But is it fair that Brian et al should bag 14 Alder kittens in one night? Surely not!! It is a species I have lusted after for decades (along with reed leopard, plumed prominent and death’s head hawk). But that’s mothing for you. If I want to see these glorious creatures I will have to stir myself and get out more. I have already decided that the only way I’ll ever see a death’s-head is by getting lucky on a package holiday to Tunisia.
Tony H.
There are interesting things going on with this quite scarce species in the county at the moment so I’m putting a warning out for people to look out for it as it seems to be on the move.
First found in Suffolk in 2004 along the river Stour, it was then found in 2011 along the Orwell. I recorded it for the first time at IGC in 2015, as did Paul Kitchener in Ipswich. This year, I had 2 in mid May and Paul recorded another in Ipswich. This has lead me to believe it may be breeding somewhere close by but I have no definitive proof yet.
There has now been another development. On Saturday, whilst out on a visit to some meadows at Cornard near Sudbury a few of us discovered a number of the moths (both males and females) flying and feeding at flowers. The foodplant, Smooth tare, was present. Surely it must be breeding there. This is the first record for the west Suffolk vice county I believe.
So, watch out for any large metallic green Coleophoras in your traps (see photo). The distinctive features to watch out for are no white marks on the antennae and the patch of large orange scales visible with a hand lens under the eye. Both sexes have this feature.
Good luck and happy hunting
Neil
Coleophora amethystinella female
