Suffolk Moths Blog

Last August I posted a photo of a tortrix moth that I wasn’t sure on the id. I was thinking along the lines of Apotomis semifasciana, which would have been a new site record here. I saved the moth for dissection to confirm the id. Jon Clifton kindly did the dissection for me recently and it turns out that it isn’t semifasciana at all, but is in fact Thaumatotibia leucotreta, the False codling moth. Looking likely to be a Suffolk first.
This moth is an Afrotropical species and is occasionally imported accidentally as a larva in oranges and other fruits and seeds (quoting from UK Moths). So did this moth blow into my trap in the garden from the Sainsbury’s supermarket not too far away as the moth flies from where I live? Guess I will never know for sure! Just shows you can never tell what is going to turn up in your trap!

Thanks must go to Jon and all the people he consulted on getting the final determination of the moth.

Neil

Thaumatotibia leucotreta

An update for those who were at Beccles Town marshes on the 8th of August. Several of us were there and amused with the Police helicopter overhead for a long period as we initially thought they must be checking out our lights in case of a rave. I saw little news at the time but the real rave was over the river at Aldeby as we knew when we packed up.  I have just read that the Police broke up the rave eventually at 03.30 . Some 5oo people in attendance.  It has made the news as they recently arrested the organiser.

Mild conditions last night tempted me to try some traps. Not a huge amount caught and pretty much the same as last time, apart from 2 Common quaker, my first for the year and pretty early but in line with what others have noted.

Neil

Ran a couple of traps last night in the mild conditions, one at home and one at work. Nice to find a few moths in them this morning to start the year list off. 10sp noted between the two. Nothing out of the ordinary, Spring usher and Pale brindled beauty still about. March moth, Dotted border, Early moth and Tortricodes alternella all new emergers.

Neil

I too have dusted off the traps and been running them in the very unusual warm conditions, think it may be the first time ever I’ve put them out this late in the year.
Not a single migrant moth here on any of the nights I have trapped, but I’m not that surprised as I am inland from the coast (and a long way from the south coast where most of the action is going on). Generally trapping in the garden has brought in low numbers of moths, but with a bit of interest with a late Yellow-line quaker on the 16th along with a Dark chestnut (scarce here). Even more interesting was the surprise find of a Pebble prominent on the outside of the trap on the 17th – migrant or resident tricked into coming out early in the warm conditions? (I favour the latter myself).
Lights operated around the work sheds in woodland have produced some good catches of moths. On the 16th, a single 125w mv caught 20 Spring usher (my earliest ever sighting), 8 Winter, 9 Mottled umber, 2 Pale brindled beauty (again my earliest ever – both worn, so had already been out a while) and singles of Yellow-line quaker, E.postvittana and Y.ustella. On the 18th, a 125w mv plus twin 30w actinic caught 2 Winter (both at the mv, only moths taken at that trap), 6 Spring usher and a good count of 40 Mottled umber (all at the actinic). A lot of different colour forms of the umbers noted (see photo). Trapping on the 19th produced very little, the strength of the wind becoming a factor now on the numbers caught I think. Will continue to trap on nights that are less windy if the mild conditions continue. I hope the Spring ushers and Pale brindled beauties last into next year to start off my 2016 list!

Good luck if you trap over the festive season!

Neil

Various colour forms of Mottled umber

Spring ushers

Trap on night of 16th (at work sheds)

December form of Pebble prominent!

After a few nights of catching nowt but small flies it was a bit of a surprise to find a moth in the trap this morning. Sadly, not an exotic from some distant shore but a humble Dark Chestnut, which I can only presume had been tricked into coming out of hiding by the mild weather.

I’ve had my traps out at home regularly recently encouraged by the mild weather and reports of migrants from Africa. Last night I took a Syncopacma polychromella of which a large number have been reported reaching the country along with other migrants. It looks like the winds are on the increase now though but I intend to keep trying as they are still providing the potential for some spectacular catches. Pity Matthew is spending time away in Australia at the moment as I am sure he would be having a field day here. In addition there have been a number of early emergers around. I have had a couple of Hebrew Characters, a Common Quaker and a Spring Usher. Also picked up some Acleris that are not clearly my usual A. ferrugana. Think they all could be that species but particularly a very dark shiny one needs dissecting to prove ID. Generally good species numbers for December. Other migrants have been Plutella xylostella, Crocidosema plebejana, Udea ferrugalis (lots), Silver Y and one Dark Sword-grass.

Syncopacma polychromella 18-12-2015

As did Paul, I ran a couple of traps last night (17th) in the nearby woods and recorded around 80 moths of 4 species most of them were of course Winter Moth. Interesting thing was that although it was a very mild night (12 deg.) and I counted at least 70 Winter Moth, virtually none were on the wing. They were just sitting on nearby tree trunks and not coming to the lights even though they were just a few feet away. I wonder if it was because we have had a succession of mild nights and they no longer felt the need to fly about.   When I ran 2 traps in the same area on 1st December, the traps and sheets were covered with Winter Moth and I could see by just shining the torch around, that there were hundreds of them on the wing that night. It was a very mild night that followed several cold and windy nights, so maybe this was their first opportunity to take to the wing and move around the wood. On that evening from dusk till about 6 pm, I counted 120 just in the traps and on the sheets.                                                                                                         The other 3 species last night were Chestnut, Mottled Umber and a single Pale Brindled Beauty, my earliest winter record for this species. First time I’ve recorded one in December.

Looks like more mild nights to come. What chance of winter migrants on these warm southerlies?

Brian

With all this mixed up weather we’re having I thought I’d try my luck so put the moth trap out in the garden. My reward, just a few small flies and midges. Oh well, worth the try I guess.