Suffolk Moths Blog

This evening (Friday) I joined Keith to run our lights at Neb Carr, Flixton on the Somerleyton estate. Neb Carr contains a good number of mature aspens with plenty of evidence of Hornet Moth exit holes at the base of many of them. But our target moth on this visit was Lead-coloured Drab. The evening proved to be pleasant enough with the temperature holding up around 8.5 deg. and our goal was achieved with a male and a female Lead-coloured Drab recorded.
Although no great quantity of moths (less than 50), we still managed 21 species including a first for the estate and for Keith – Red Chestnut. On this occasion the 5 actinic traps produced the best results with hardly anything coming to the four MV 125s.
We were all packed up and on our way home by 11pm.

Brian

(This is Keith’s blog, he is having problems signing in at the moment)

Brian joined me for this night on the Somerleyton Estate at St Olaves. It was my first use of the moth traps in 2015 so unsurprisingly all species seen were new for the season for me. Conditions were broken cloud throughout and it was a pretty ideal night for the time of year. Warm to start and tailing off to just below 7c at the end of the session.
9 traps including a few home made actinics that Brian uses were spread out in the mixed woodland and one of my mv skinners out on the marsh by the Sallows and Willows.
I was hoping for 20 species at the beginning of the night and this was achieved. One or two traps did especially well including the one out on the marsh. Two hundred moths counted by Brian and they were still arriving in good numbers when we started to pack up around 10.30pm.
Species seen included the regular Orthosias in good number. Engrailed were out in force and made up 10% of the catch. Single Water Carpet seen and Early Tooth-striped equaled the Great Silver Water Beetle with six of each seen. This was a very high count for these Beetles and amazingly five were in my double 30w actinic placed high and in a clearing between the Stew Pond that is Monk’s Hole and the Marsh, and that for me was the highlight of the night. It was good to be mothing again!

Keith

A bit misty this morning in Woolpit, but was pleased to catch a few moths after missing out on the previous nights cloudy skies. Only four species mind – Hebrew Character, Common Quaker, 3 Early Grey’s and a Buttoned Snout.

The warm sunny day yesterday must have prompted an emergence of moths, as my 2 traps up in the woods this morning had plenty in them including a few species more interesting than the normal quakers. Helped that it stayed quite warm for most of the night too. Certainly lifted my spirits after what has been a pretty dire spring this year.
Moths of note included Early tooth striped, Grey shoulder knot, Water carpet (2) and Calybites phasianipennella. Hangers on included a worn Oak beauty, a March moth, a Dotted border and a Satellite. Small quaker count 28, Common quaker count 59 and Clouded drab count 14 (most very fresh). The 4 Brindled pugs were my first for the year. Surprisingly no Frosted green, a moth I would normally get at this time of year, shows the season is a bit behind still.

Neil

After dropping my wife off at the local Asda I took the opportunity to check the sallows at the rear of the building on the bank of Breydon Water to see if Adela cuprella was on the wing. This is a regular site to see them and in the warm sunshine I counted around 50 dancing above the sallow flowers.
The bonus was, while I was watching the cuprella through my binoculars, a bird appeared in my vision that attracted my attention. It was a peregrine, no doubt on its way to terrorize the waders on the mudflats the other side the sea wall.

Brian

I guess from the lack of news on captures on the blog that people must be suffering from the lack of moths syndrome that seems to be prevalent across the UK at the moment (going on various blogs I read online). It certainly seems to be happening here at IGC. Most nights have been too cold to tempt me to trap, but with some cloud cover and a temperature of 7 degrees at dusk on 3rd April I gave it a go. 2x 125w mv traps in my garden caught 8sp. Full count as follows: Common quaker 25, Hebrew character 3, Twin-spotted quaker 1, Small quaker 1, Pine beauty (FFY) 3, D.fagella 1, Engrailed (FFY) 1 and Chestnut 1. These are very poor numbers for me here, at a site where there are mature Oak trees close by. On a good night in the recent past I’ve had over 100 Common and over 200 Small quakers alone in one mv trap running in the same location.
I would be interested to know if others are finding the same. I expect garden totals to be low, but what is it like in the wider countryside?
If another warmish night happens in the next few days I’ll be trapping in the Oak woods on the site to see if that is any different.

Neil

The forecast for Friday evening was for the temperature to hold up around 7 deg. By the time I’d set the traps up at Gillingham Thicks it had already fallen to 5 deg. so I wasn’t expecting very much to come to the lights. But the moths came in a steady flow mostly Orthosias and especially Small Quaker (70+). Some new ones for the year for me were Brindled Pug, Red Chestnut and Small Brindled Beauty which seems to be a common moth down Ipswich area but is infrequent up here in the Waveney Valley, just the odd one or two each year. By 9.30 pm, around 150 moths of 15 species had been recorded. I was quite happy with that on a chilly moonlit evening.                                                                               See you at the indoor meeting.

Brian