Suffolk Moths Blog

The warmish nights in the latter part of the week tempted me to try some trapping. This resulted in the capture of the last 2 expected species for the year here at IGC – Scarce umber and the Northern Winter moth.
Ran 2 125w traps on the night of the 27th (1 in the garden plus the other in the woods). 17sp caught (103 moths). Good numbers of Mottled umber (19) and December moth (53). Northern winter (2), Scarce umber (5) and most surprisingly a Dotted border (my first ever at this time of year, normally seen in Feb/March) provided the interesting sightings.
Ran 3 125w traps on the 28th (1 at home again plus 2 in the woods). Although it was still mild the sky was clear and this had the effect of a dramatic reduction in the number of moths caught. 11sp and 38 moths caught. Mottled umber total 4 with the December moth total 6. More Northern winter (4) and Scarce umber (7).
With cooler nights now on the way and the year list complete it’s time to pack the traps away till next year when it all starts over again!

Neil

Lights deployed on three nights 18&19 Nov at home and on the 20th at Herringfleet Hills.
The 18th was the best night with 12 species at home although one of these, A. acanthadactyla was in my conservatory. Other species seen included; Scarce and Mottled Umber, Silver Y, December Moth, Feathered Thorn, Diamond-back 11, Rusty-dot Pearl 8, and Scarce Bordered Straw. The 19th only 6 species, 17 Diamond-back, 2 Silver Y. On the 20th as good mothing weather was forecast I went out to H. Hills and set out the four traps and left them from 19.00-22.30. On my return the promised breeze had not materialized nor the cloud cover. 7 moths to the four traps in 6 species! New for the Estate were Winter Moth and November Moth, the latter recorded on all three nights.

The night of 22 November will be remembered as the night of the Olive-tree Pearl or Palpita vitrealis.

Following a moderate arrival in the south of England on Friday night I was expecting to catch this moth last night. No surprise perhaps that two should arrive at my Bawdsey Hall traps then! I was also able to add the species to the Stanny Farm, Iken, site list too when a singleton arrived last night. Even more unexpected however was one that was caught by the Moth Group at Groton Wood last night (on the side of Neil’s trap) – the most inland Suffolk record ever.

It seemed that wherever one deployed a moth trap last night in Suffolk there was a vitrealis to be caught. One wonders just how many must have really arrived last night, probably hundreds!

Last night (20 November) was much cooler at Bawdsey Hall than the preceding few nights. Imagine my astonishment then to discover a Vagrant China-mark Diasemiopsis ramburialis in one of the traps!

This is the second record for the site following hot-on-the-heels of one in early October.

Also noted recently are several Gem this week; Dark Sword-grass and Silver Y.

I put a trap out last night, just in case. Only three species: 6 december moth, 2 gem and a rush veneer (my first of the year). Tonight might be worth a try…

I was fortunate to catch a fine White-speck on the night of 11 November. This is only the third Bawdsey record following singles on 31 October in both of the years 2004 and 2009.

Other recent migrants have included two male Gem on night of 14 November along with Pearly Underwing, Turnip, Dark Sword-grass and Silver Y. Diamond-back Moths, Crocidosema plebejana and Rusty-dot Pearl have been regular in their appearance.

Well, in was an average or quiet autumn here. Nothing unusual and not many migrants (except the influx of rusty-dot pearl). Last night (10th) I put a moth trap out to see what was about and caught my first December moth of the winter, together with sprawler, red-line quaker, feathered thorn, green-brindled crescent, dark chestnut and November moth. An average set of late-autumn moths to bring some cheer to a dismal month.