Suffolk Moths Blog

Brian and I went to Ashby Warren on the night of the 11th. A site that keeps coming up with surprise finds, it has become a case of expecting the unexpected. No cloud cover on the night but warm air so not too much concern there.  One of my traps was alive with visiting moths from switch on and this was the trap that had our star moth, my first first for Suffolk. It was a bit troublesome to pot, the tiny micro pots are great if the moth is still but this wasn’t and took a while to catch. We both felt it was an exciting one that we hadn’t seen before and both flicked through our field guide to micro moths and came up with the same one. I was first to the information page and informed Brian that it doesn’t appear to be shown in East Anglia. Further searching online at home in the morning only pointed towards confirmation that it was indeed Triaxomera fulvimitrella. The moth feeds on Bracket fungi associated with Oak and Beech.

Officially as yet Tony has only had a quick look at the photo and not cleared our id but has said it looks good at this stage. Jon and Neil have agreed with the id, thank you both.

Around 70 species recorded on the night. Larch Pug was new for us too. We also had Lobesia reliquana, C. fagiglandana, S. weirana. First Buff-tips and Green Silver-lines of the season and a huge number of Bordered Whites which accounted for about half the moths seen.

Last night I set up in the rain at Blocka Carr. It got dark so early it wasn’t safe to place some of the traps due to the dodgy ground. Unfortunately the rain was prolonged enough to put off many moths and therefore me too and I was packed up and leaving the site at midnight. Still generally worth the effort on such nights as they can turn out to be some of the best nights of all.

I am slowly getting used to my new garden in Homersfield and finding the best place for the moth trap. The number and variety of moths seems to be less than in Burgate but last night conditions were ideal – cloudy and muggy after a little rain. Best moth this morning was a Netted Pug: a new species for me. The rest of the catch was as expected but included Bird’s Wing, May Highflyer, Treble-bar, Sandy Carpet and Shoulder-striped Wainscot.

Mark

Another look round the Currant bushes in the garden this afternoon produced a brief sighting of Nemophora fasciella at rest before flying off, too brief for a photo. A moth I’ve recorded before here. Nice to get another quality species of moth during the day here as some relief from the poor nights.

Neil

It is always a pleasant surprise when I turn over an egg tray and see a Privet Hawkmoth but, when the rest of the country are catching Striped Hawk’s left, right and centre, I must confess that I was a teeny-weeny bit disappointed. No Bordered Straw either. And that just about sums up the garden trap at the moment … still a bit on the slow side … with small numbers of Heart & Dart, the odd Buff Ermine, Light Brocade and Rustic Shoulder-knot and hardly a micro to be seen.

Had my first Currant clearwing for the year this afternoon. Have been trying the garden currant bushes using the pheromone for the last week but no joy. In fact today when I got home from work it was warm in the garden so I thought I’d try the lure. When I went out to the bushes didn’t need it as there was a moth at rest on a sunlit leaf!
Just not bothered running any light traps recently in this depressing cold June weather. May be better the next few nights as it gradually warms up a bit.

Neil

Currant clearwing

Two early June experiences for me. Quite different to the carefully selected nights previously enjoyed. On the 2nd, a windy moonlit night I was out again at Monk’s Hole/ Scale Marsh. The reason for a revisit after last week was this was my chosen location for a demonstration and talk, at midday on the 3rd, On Lord Somerleyton’s request, for Lord & Lady Somerleyton and management staff from all departments on the Estate on how the moth surveys are conducted. This was a secure and quite hazardous location ideal for leaving out the equipment in situ and showing how the traps are carefully placed and the routing  of cables etc, you all get the picture. I wanted an array of specimens to end the show too so trapped for two hours on a rubbish night. 38 species taken with the highlights of Ancylis diminutana, pictured. And  Metendothenia atropuncta both already known from the site. The demo for the 14 or so individuals went down very well on the Wednesday.

Last night Brian and I went to a hedgerow and woodland site near Ashby Church. In the morning when out with the dog there was much promise for the night ahead. Four Painted Lady and same number of Silver Y seen in the site area so good signs of migrant presence. The forecast was for a drop in temperature around 2am to around 9c . When the lights went on it was already below 9 and was down to 6c at 00.30 when we had finished packing up with around 26 species between the 8 traps, what a waste of time! New for year, White-point and Common Wainscot. One of the most common moths being Small square-spot. A Silver Y the only migrant.

June, summer by the convention of the met office. Started with gales from the west and not especially warm. We then had a spell of warm weather with air brought up from the south and promise of migrants. However there was also a full moon and some clear skies that didn’t help and at Hollesley during the day of 5th was a most intense thunderstorm with hail that left ‘deep’ water everywhere for a few minutes.

Migrants? Well only Silver Y, Plutella xylostella and my first Dark Sword-grass here. Pleased also though to see Painted Lady, my favourite butterfly. Well done Neil on the Small Mottled Willow. Catches in the warmer weather were OK at 70, 68 and 61 species with some interest. Still getting Large Prominent 7th. Snout about now. Two new species for me at home were a Ptycholoma lecheana 5th and a Lampronia morosa 3rd (according to Suffolk Moths web site the first record since 1931). The Lampronia was determined by dissection since the presence of a noticeable discal spot threw me off L. morosa initially. A daytime visit to the Rendlesham Forest turned up  Micropterix aruncella. A pleasing record for me as it was a personal first and I spotted it sitting on a grass leaf. A visit up to Snape on 5th turned up a few pretty moths; Figure of 80, 5 Gold Spot, Nemophora degeerella and Phyllonorycter klemannella. Some large moths; Privet, Eyed, Poplar and Lime Hawk-moths and a rare one. My second example of Coleophora adjunctella. This record is in the same 10 km square as the original 1904 record (no its not, its actually a 10 km square inland from the original record). Perhaps it is found all along our coast. Another first for me at Snape was Cnephasia incertana.

A spell of winds from the east now will probably reduce catches until another promised warm air from the south at the end of this week.

The very brief humid spell promised much, but in my experience didn’t deliver as expected. Thursday night was supposed to be mild but at dusk at IGC the temperature was a chilly feeling 11 degrees. The 3 traps running didn’t contain a large number of moths in the morning with the best of that bunch a Poplar lutestring. Friday night felt like it was going to be excellent, with warm humid air and thunder around during the day, but, by dusk, that had all disappeared and a strongish breeze had picked up under a clear sky. Not good conditions for a big total! Come morning my 4 traps did have a reasonable amount of moths in but I still felt disappointed, should have been better especially for micros at this time of year, their numbers were quite poor. With others around the UK picking up migrants it was pleasing to find a few, best of which was a Small mottled willow. Others were a Silver Y (f.gammina) and 19 Plutella xylostella. About 90sp recorded. Other bits and bobs of note for here were White colon, Lobster (2) and Brindled white spot. Still getting Muslin moth and Great prominent (seem late to me). Generally low numbers of Treble lines, Heart and dart and Brown silver line all normally common here. Small square spot more than usual however. My feeling is that the season is still running a bit late, not being helped by cool nights which I see are due to return now. Come on summer!

Neil

Small mottled willow

White colon

Neil’s excellent image of Coleophora amethystinella in his post of 2 June prompted me to take another look at a photo of a Coleophora species I trapped in my Ipswich garden on 27th May. Now sure that it was also this species I e-mailed the photo to Neil who obligingly confirmed the identification. I was now armed with a new-found knowledge of the ID features of this species and it was very surprising when, this morning (4th June), I was able to put that knowledge to  an almost immediate use, as there was another one in my garden trap (pictured). It is quite a large, metallic green/brown coleophorid with ALL dark antennae and orange lower “eye-lashes” that are actually quite easy to see with a good hand lens. So, look out for it – once thought of as strictly coastal (Tony has found it at Levington Lagoon in the past) it may also appear inland, as I understand it does in Essex.

Paul

After my last post reporting on the good night at IGC on the 22nd, I did trap 3 more times but with less traps as weather conditions were not as ideal. All nights brought in around 20sp, and low numbers of moths generally as expected given the cool temperatures. What wasn’t expected was that 2 new moths would be caught and added to the IGC list! The garden trap(s) came up trumps again with both records. The first was an Epinotia tedella on the 27th, originally identified as an Epinotia nanana but after checking it was too early for that species. I’m happy with the id as it matches the plate of the darker form in Razowski but not the pictures in Sterling. There is also a good matching image on the Northumberland moths site too. The second new moth was most unexpected – a Coleophora amethystinella (fuscicornis). This moth has been found along the Orwell river not too far from where I live, so could have wandered from there. However there is the outside chance it may have colonized as Smooth tare does grow abundantly in my garden. I’ll be checking for larval cases later in the year. Otherwise other moths seen were expected for the time of year with nothing else of note apart from a record of Elachista atricomella.

Neil

Epinotia tedella

Coleophora amethystinella