Due to the poor weather forecast for Friday, the meeting at Cavenham Heath has been changed to Saturday night (4th June). Same meeting details. Please watch the blog if you are thinking of coming as it may be it could be cancelled for that night if the weather is not looking promising – a decision will be made tomorrow (Friday) evening.
Neil
I wouldn’t normally have bothered to run a trap in the weather conditions last night – cool, with a very strong north wind blowing through the garden (strong enough to blow my dustbins over during the night scattering the contents everywhere – grr!).
But, with the xylostella invasion still going on I found the most sheltered spot I could and gave an mv a go. Trap was still there and undamaged in the morning. Only 1 xylostella on the outside so I initially thought it was a waste of time. Soon as the lid was lifted off, I noticed there were quite a few xylostella in there. Final count was 213. Amazing. Virtually the only moth species present, only 10 other species (13 other moths in total). Did include a Mullein though, pleased to get this as it is only my second record of the species at light. Plenty of small larvae on my Mullein plants however!
Is this year ever going to get going?
Neil
Here are the details for the meetings that have been arranged for June.
Friday 3rd June – Cavenham Heath. Meet 9pm in the main car park (TL 744721). We will then move the cars down the track further to find recording areas. Target Breck species of moths.
Saturday 25th June – Orfordness. Overnight stay on reserve, so places limited. Meet at Orford Quay at 8pm to drop off equipment. Target Crambus pratella and Concolorous, both species that have been noted on the site in recent years and may be resident.
More xylostella are about, so worth putting traps out to see how many you get. Unfortunately my garden was far too windy to attempt trapping last night, with no shelter from the north winds. Maybe it will be calmer this evening.
Neil
Looks like there may have been an influx of Plutella xylostella, saw a number today flushed from long grass here at IGC. Numbers have been noted elsewhere, reported on the Atropos website. This despite the dreadful weather!
Neil
Another interesting moth for people to look at from last night here at IGC, I know what I think it is. See what you think!
Last night Brian and I ran our lights at my Wicker Well, Somerleyton, site. I chose to run mine along a marsh edge sheltered by a wooded slope. Conditions seemed very good there and moths at switch on fairly active. Brian trapped in woodland and on tracks as usual at this site. I was hoping for 50 species and the sheet trap performed steadily. We checked the rest of Brians traps, then heading for mine there was just darkness and silence. Unfortunately the generator I was using had switched itself off and on restarting persisted in doing so for the remainder of the night. Consequently my traps only contributed 2 species and had more slugs on them than moths in them. With temperatures hovering around 11c the species count total was 31, with Flame Wainscot, May High-flyer and Buff-tip among them. Best however was Pauper Pug, caught some 1/2 mile down-wind from the mile or so of Lime Avenues on the Estate Parkland where I had the species last year.
First event of the year promised much with a warm day, but it cooled down fairly quickly after dusk. 5 moth-ers turned up for the evening and first job was to look for trap sites. Unfortunately the wood has become very overgrown since the group last visited and there was no real access in from the public footpath. I did push through a less thick area but it was the same story in the wood, so we had to abandon trapping there and go to Wolves wood instead. 6 lights were deployed along the tracks to try and avoid close encounters with ticks, as a few had already been located on my trousers – as people who know me know that I am a bit of a magnet for them!
Moths were slow coming in as it rapidly cooled down. My final count when we packed up at midnight was 34sp – 31 moths and 3sp of larvae. Poplar lutestring, Seraphim and Ancylis laetana were common reflecting the abundant Aspen in the wood. Very little else of note apart from Cream wave and a late Hebrew character.
This year certainly seems to be a struggle. We are just not getting enough warm nights at the moment!
Neil
Well. This was the first of I don’t know how many to come of my recording of moths species on Havergate Island. I look at the weather forecasts to let the RSPB know as far in advance as realist as to when I ask if they are able to get me there (and back). Thursday 26th May looked OK in advance. I hope the SMG Hintlesham Woods trip went better than my trip did. I set up 3 MV traps which captured a grand total of 10 species. I almost did better by searching during the afternoon and evening with 8 species found. Total 18!
That having been said the island is a fabulous place to be. Particularly pleasant was siting out in the evening and watching the hares come out to feed and sunbathe.
The moths were very disappointing. None of the expected salt-marsh species. I think the late season is even more striking on the estuary where the colder water means a slower start to the year. One salt-marsh/coastal inhabitant was found by way of a Northern Drab. A bit tattered and very pale. The commonest species was the Tawny Shears followed by Cochylidia implicitana. Got two surprises for the location; a Poplar Hawk=moth and a Phyllonorycter quercifoliella. Two bird related species; Monopis crocicapitella and M. laevigella. Hope for better luck next trip.
