Been trapping some more the last few nights, not as good as Sunday night however as conditions cooler. Nothing of note on the 4th, bit more interest 5th with 30 Frosted green noted, my second highest ever count at this site. Twin-spotted quaker in very low numbers here at present with only 1 recorded over the 2 nights, and that was a runt small one.
Neil
The season properly under way with the garden MV over the last two or three nights.
We have lived here near Halesworth for eleven years now; in the first year or two I planted up the bare (ex-arable field corner) garden with all sorts of wildlife-friendly plants as well as establishing a couple of ponds etc, and planting dozens of trees. The pay-off is that we now have nesting chiffchaff,whitethroat, bullfinch etc, and the moth trap often yields new species probably attracted in by the new habitat and food plants. Last night I had my fourth lead-coloured drab of the week, and Ypsolopha mucronella. Both aspen and spindle (the foodplants) are doing well in the garden (the aspen rather too well) and I don’t think the moths would have been here otherwise.
It may only be a drop in the ocean but at least it’s something!
Meanwhile, we plant potatoes every year but haven’t managed to establish our own colony of death’s-heads…
I ran my usual two traps at home and also went mobile to the Rendlesham forest. Unfortunately at home the common problem of the trap at the rear garden tripped out the power so most of the early fliers were lost there. Only 16 species in total at home. The Rendlesham forest however provided a very good selection but sorting in the rain during the morning was a slight disadvantage and there were a few drowned moths. 27 species at the forest site. Commonest species were Yellow Horned, Hebrew Character, Small Quaker, Clouded Drab and Brindled Pug. Two Water Carpet were a nice surprise and they were real ones not a flooded carpet!. My first Engrailed this year and my first eriocranids. Both Acleris ferrugana and notana. Also an Acleris literana. I was delighted to see this at a new site but then realised that I was only a kilometer away from its regular site of Staverton Park and in reality the sites are only separated by one field. Caloptilia betulicola without an obvious costal blotch. A few pics
Ran 2 traps in the woods last night, hoping for a good catch with the mild conditions. Wasn’t expecting the thunderstorms to hit not long after starting up the traps however! So both traps pretty wet this morning but still a pretty good haul caught. 20sp in all, with Common quaker numbers over 100 (105) for the first time this year. Most of catch the usual suspects but nice to get some year firsts: Dyseriocrania subpurpurella (12), Engrailed and Frosted green (7). 2 nice micros not seen often here obtained too: Epermenia chaerophyllella and Pammene giganteana.
Neil
Pammene giganteana
Epermenia chaerophyllella
Just a quick reminder that it’s the indoor meeting next Saturday (2nd April), doors open at 10.30am. Please bring along any talks/exhibits on the day. I have some good news on the local pub – it has now re-opened so those who are interested will be able to go there for lunch.
Hopefully see you next weekend
Neil
It has been a long slow slog this spring waiting for the moths to get going. The combination of cool or wet nights hasn’t helped at all on this side of the country.
I have tried the traps a few times but with very little return. To show how bad it has been, I’ve only seen 2 Small brindled beauty and 1 Dotted border this spring, both are normally very common species at this site.
However, I’ve trapped the last 3 nights and the results have been quite pleasing. Nothing rare but just nice to find a reasonable number of moths to count! First trapped on the 21st, not forecast to be too cold but woke up to a frost! Frost on the traps too so didn’t expect much but was happy to find 11sp including my first Yellow horned, Diurnea fagella and Early grey for the year. Next night trapping at home 12sp with only Pine beauty new for the year, but number of quakers increased. Last night traps in the woods caught 10sp but c.130 moths trapped, with good numbers of the commoner quaker species plus first Twin-spotted quaker for the year (4). Most noticeable moth however was Diurnea fagella, with 42 trapped, my highest ever count (previous best 27).
Now rain and wind are arriving in time for the bank holiday weekend so the traps will be off again for a while.
How have others found this year so far? Must have been even worse for the garden trappers if it was bad for me and I’m close to woodland.
Neil
I know some moth recorders in Suffolk use this program so I thought I’d put out some news on the latest patch. This is a complete revision of the moth checklist to the new order. I downloaded and applied it to my Mapmate and things all went wrong. I always then check my site species list as a test to see if all is OK, this time it wasn’t, over 100sp were missing! All records seemed to be there however. Found out on the web that the new patch was missing some of the moth families hence why my list was shortened. Has since been rectified with an update to the patch so if you have downloaded and applied this patch when you got the newsletter alert about it recently it will be worth going onto the Mapmate site and downloading and applying it again to get the full list. I’ve done that and it now works fine. With the new system in place however you won’t be able to use the old numbers anymore, they have been removed! Doesn’t affect me as I tend to use the moth names anyway.
Neil
Doors will open at 10.30am for setting up, refreshments and general chat and looking at exhibits. We can then start with a few talks if there is time. Some of the group will then be lunching in a local pub from 12.30pm onwards (this has yet to be arranged as the local pub just down from the village hall is closed at present but is due to re-open but I don’t know when). The meeting will continue until we have run out of talks etc, possibly around 5pm. It is hoped that there will be time for a few short ‘workshops’ as well during the day, with the use of the Mapmate program and photographing moths a couple of ideas suggested so far. If you would like to do a short workshop on any area of your own interest then let me know.
The day’s entertainment is entirely dependent on members bringing along items of interest or being prepared to give a short/long talk. I have 2 talks ready at present. Tony will be bringing a digital projector for those with digital presentations or images. If anyone would like to show ‘old style’ slides hopefully we can arrange a slide projector if needed, please let me know on this. Tables will also be provided for those with exhibits. It would be useful if you are intending on giving a presentation to let me know. Refreshments will be provided.
If you are doing a Powerpoint presentation then you should save it in OpenOffice format or if you use Microsoft Office then Office 2007 format or earlier.
Bucklesham Village Hall is not far from the Nacton A12/A14 roundabout to the east of Ipswich. From the A12/A14 roundabout take the minor exit after the A12 exit but before the A14 Felixstowe exit. This exit is signposted to Bucklesham and leads via a single track road to Bucklesham Village. At the end of this road you will reach the village, at the T junction turn right into Bucklesham Road. Take the next right turn into Levington Lane and the village hall is a short distance down the lane on the right.
A map of the location can be viewed by following this link. The OS Grid Reference for the hall is TM242417. If you need any more detailed instructions in how to get there then do get in contact with myself.
Hopefully see you there!
Neil
Weather this month has been dire, with little opportunity to trap. Even last night it was borderline, but as it was mild and fairly sheltered in the garden I gave it a go with a single trap. A few moths were caught, most hiding under the sheet under the trap or perched on a nearby fence rather than in the trap. 10sp in all, including 2 Oak beauty and first records for the year of Hebrew character and Small quaker. Pale brindled beauty still going along with Tortricodes alternella but no Spring usher so that is probably over. Hopefully there will be another weather window sometime soon so I can trap in a more wooded area, far too windy to attempt that last night.
Neil
Ran a trap here at IGC on Thursday night as it wasn’t too windy (a rare occasion this winter). Pretty much the same moths about as last time, with a single Spring usher, Pale brindled beauties, a few Common quakers and the only new record for the year a Small brindled beauty.
Neil
