Suffolk Moths Blog

19sp in the traps last night, with more moths coming onto the wing now. Early grey was new for the season. Also of note for me was a Shoulder stripe, a rare species here last seen 9 years ago! Best moth though was a micro – Caloptilia falconipennella, a rare species that I only have 7 records of here.
March moth numbers seem to be dropping off now but Orthosias continue to increase. Still no Clouded drab or Twin-spotted quaker here yet but they will appear soon I’m sure.

Neil

Having cast envious eyes over Neil’s night’s catch on display at Saturday’s fab meeting, and having grumbled to Brian that I never get anything in the garden trap until May, I caught a rather dapper dotted chestnut last night: a bit nibbled around the edges but still special because it’s my first. Also, another 14 species, which makes it a good night for my corner of north Suffolk.

Tony H.

Thanks Neil for all your hard work in putting together an excellent meeting with as you say excellent talks. Looking forward to the meetings list for this year.

Good catch of spring moths at IGC on the night of the 10th in my 4 traps. 18sp. Best Pale pinion, Caloptilia semifascia, Small brindled beauty (3) and Oak nycteoline. Orthosias getting going but no Clouded drab or Twin-spot quaker here yet but expect them any day. Plenty of March moth, Dotted border and Yellow horned along with a few Oak beauty.

Neil

After seeing none 3 days ago, this evening orthosis were abundant. Common Quaker, Small Quaker, Clouded Drab, Hebrew Character and Twin-spot Quaker were all added to the 2017 list this evening.
The weather was ideal with thick cloud keeping the moon hidden and the temperature around 9 deg. Most abundant moth was March Moth (37) with a few Dotted Border and T alternella still around. Other new ones for the year were Shoulder Stripe (2), Engrailed (6), Yellow Horned (13) and A. herecliana (2) with Chestnut and A cristana making up 13 species for the evening and over 100 moths counted. Traps were all packed up by 9.30.

Brian

At 5pm this evening there was plenty of cloud overhead so I thought it was worth packing the traps in the boot and trying one of my sites for the first time this year. But this all changed by the time I had set up. The clouds rolled away leaving a bright moon and falling temperatures (this seems to happen time and again in the spring months).
So, not much activity from the moths with just a trickle coming in. A few March Moth, Dotted Border and a single T alternella with Oak Beauty and Grey Shoulder-knot the only new ones for the year. Still not seen a single orthosia.
By the time I reeled up the cables around 9pm, there was ice on the one laid out across the grass at the bottom of the site! Maybe try again later in the week and hope the forecast is correct.

Brian

Just as a follow-up to Neil’s post on 18th Jan. and his enquiry about 2016 results from other areas of the county. I’ve at last completed my records for my area in the north of VC25 (Waveney Valley) which includes some on adjacent sites on the VC27 side of the border. Whereas Neil’s records are for 2 sites, mine are across 20 or more sites which I trap regularly every year, several with Keith on his Somerleyton estate sites. On the sites we trap together we will run 7 or 8 lights and on those I trap alone I run 5 lights on average. All the records are over 12 months of the year and include my garden which accounts for a very small percentage of the totals except the number of nights the traps are run. One thing to keep in mind is that on all these sites except my garden, the lights are not run all night, but for 2 to 3 hours after dusk. So this may affect final totals compared to sites where lights are left on all night.

Year     Sites     Nights     No. of records     Species     No. of moths counted
2012      26          150             4172                     653                  14494
2013      22          139             4743                    709                  16943
2014      20          136             4446                   706                   16950
2015      27          165              5013                   703                   15248
2016      25         154              4005                   653                   15217

So the species count for 2016 was down by about 50, similar to 2012 but in that year I did not run as many lights as I did in 2016.
I have selected a few of the more obvious winners and losers from the 2016 list. These are moths I record regularly on my sites and usually in good numbers. The % figure is based on the average over the previous 4 years.

Winners                                                                              Losers
E. postvittana (569) up 90% [mostly in my garden]   Diurnea flagella (30) down 60%
Drinker (142) up 60%                                                        Agapeta hamana (26) down 50%
Small Fan-footed Wave (61) up 70%                               Ditula angustiorana (15) down 60%
Common Marbled Carpet (125) up 60%                         Aleimma loeflingiana (5) down 150%
Clouded Border (480) up 80%                                         C culmella (109) down 50%
Pale Tussock (122) up 60%                                                C pascuella (9) down 150%
Dingy Shears (22) up 150%                                               July Highflyer (18) down 75%
Fen Wainscot (160) up 120%                                            May Highflyer (23) down 100%
White-mantled Wainscot (14) usual average is 2         Flame (74) down 60%                                                                                                                             Large Y  Underwing (342) down 30%                                                                                                   Lesser Y Underwing (21) down 60%                                                                                                   Double Square-spot (41) down 50%                                                                                                    Bright-line Brown-eye (28) down 50%                                                                                                 Dark Arches (130) down 60%                                                                                                                  Vine’s Rustic (8) down 100%

Some that I have recorded every year but did not see at all last year included Varied Coronet, Light Brocade, Blair’s Shoulder-knot, Red Underwing and Six-striped Rustic.

Clouded Border, May Highflyer and July Highflyer all live in similar habitat, so it’s interesting to see how the former had such a good year and the 2 Highflyer’s such a poor one.
So there were a lot more losers than winners and the figures back up the feeling you had when out on site recording that even though many nights were very promising for trapping, the moths just did not turn up in the usual numbers.

Brian

Been a frustrating time recently waiting for a decent window in the weather to run traps. Last night had a promising forecast so 3 traps deployed – 1 at home at 2 up in the woods. Not much in the garden one this morning 5sp but did include first Hebrew characters, Small quaker, Yellow horned and Oak beauty for the year. 5 March moths as well. Traps at sheds much better, 12sp 135 moths. Mostly March (68) and Tortricodes alternella (37). Others: Dotted border, Yellow horned, Acleris ferrugana, Agonopterix alstromeriana, Ypsolopha ustella, Small brindled beauty, Chestnut, Common quaker, Pale brindled beauty and Small quaker.
Hopefully won’t have to wait as long before trying the traps again.

Neil