Well, there has been a complete lack of migrants here apart from a single Diamond-back on the 14th. Good numbers of the commoner autumn moths though with Black Rustic, Feathered Thorn and an early Sprawler on the 17th. Still no Merveille du Jour though.
Mark
The Bawdsey lamps were last night attended by 54 species – remarkably high for mid-October.
In addition to the migrants detailed below, a late Dingy Footman was recorded.
34 Diamond-back Moth, 31 Rusty-dot Pearl, 8 Rush Veneer, 2 Olive-tree Pearl Palpita vitrealis, 5 Gem (4 males), 2 Pearly Underwing, 12 Dark Sword-grass, 2 Turnip, 1 Delicate, 44 Angle Shades and 2 Scarce Bordered Straw.
Compared to the rest of the country Suffolk is certainly doing rather well at the moment.
The migrant bonanza continues! I have put in a lot of effort which has been rewarded by counts of migrants over the past two nights as listed below:
Night of 15 October: 100 Diamond-back Moth, 39 Rusty-dot Pearl, 4 Rush Veneer, 2 Olive-tree Pearl Palpita vitrealis, 4 Gem (3 males), 1 Convolvulus Hawk-moth, 1 Turnip, 1 Delicate, 17 Angle Shades and 2 Scarce Bordered Straw.
Night of 14 October: 105 Diamond-back Moth, 41 Rusty-dot Pearl, 3 Rush Veneer, 3 Olive-tree Pearl Palpita vitrealis, 1 male Gem, 6 Dark Sword-grass, 2 Turnip, 1 Delicate, 1 Scarce Bordered Straw (first for year) and 1 Golden Twin-spot.
I put out just one trap last night and checking at 20.15 it was in darkness. Not sure why the bulb blew but it was my oldest one at 11 years old. The trap on an outside table and fitted with full rain guard. This morning bulb glass now minus its white colouring after the rain was found up to 10 feet away from the trap. 10 species recorded.
Well, it’s taken quite a while but I finally managed to add Gem (Nycterosea obstipata) to my Woolpit garden list. Also caught last night were yet another Black Rustic, plus Barred Sallow, Green-brindled Crescent, Red-line and Yellow-line Quaker.
Well what a night October 13th was! Warm moist tropical air brought lots of goodies to Bawdsey including the pyralids ramburialis and recurvalis – never before have I trapped these two.
The supporting cast included 73 Diamond-back Moth, 46 Rusty-dot Pearl, 2 Rush Veneer, 8 male Gem, 5 Dark Sword-grass, 1 Pearly Underwing, 1 Delicate, 18 Angle Shades, 1 Dark Spectacle and 8 Silver Y.
50 species were recorded in total, incredible for mid October.
Conditions looking very good for further immigration, particularly the night of 15 October.
This was a joint meeting with the Norfolk Moth group and as it turned out the day was shared out with a visit to a Norfolk site in the morning followed by a Suffolk site after lunch. With the forecast heavy showers not appearing over us during the day and some warm sunshine in the afternoon it turned out to be a pleasant recording session. We were joined by John Langmaid and Brian Elliot, both national experts who helped us get to grips with some of the more difficult species. I won’t comment too much about Betty’s fen on the Norfolk side of the Waveney river except to say we had around 50 species on the list with a lot of mines being noted whilst studying the various trees along the road leading to the reserve. Best things found by myself included Coleophora follicularis (case on Hemp agrimony) and lots of mines of Phyllocnistis saligna on Crack willow.
After a lunch interlude at a local pub we then moved on to Hinderclay Fen on the Suffolk side of the river. Around a similar number of species were recorded, with some more scarce ones found. These included Enteucha acetosae (quite a few mines on Sheep’s sorrel, with some really beautiful examples), Stigmella assimilella and Ectoedemia argyropeza (both mines on Aspen), Coleophora milvipennis (cases on sapling Birch), Acrolepia autumnitella (mine on Bittersweet) and Stigmella betulicola (mines on sapling Birch). I did try a bit of beating for larvae as well but this was unsuccessful in recording anything. A Drinker moth larva found basking in the sunshine was the only macro species noted.
Thanks must go to the Little Ouse Headwaters Project for allowing us access to the sites for the day. Their management of these sites has certainly improved them for wildlife and it will be interesting to return and try some moth trapping in the summer.
Neil
Numbers have dropped after the wind and rain. On the night of 10 October just 36 species were recorded at Bawdsey Hall. November Moth, Blair’s Shoulder-knot and Dark Chestnut now on the wing here. I’ve only seen one Feathered Thorn so far this autumn. Merveille du Jour has not appeared in any numbers yet.
A few migrants about this last week, including a male Gem on 10 October and regular appearances of Delicate during the week. Silver Y numbers have increased but very few Dark Sword-grass lately. Small numbers of Diamond-back Moth, Rush Veneer and Rusty-dot Pearl are about.
The most numerous moths currently are Feathered Ranunculus, Beaded Chestnut and Large Yellow Underwing.
Dingy Footman was recorded on 6 October and Buff Footman two nights earlier. Square-spot Rustic, Shuttle-shaped Dart and Lunar Yellow Underwing also still hanging on.
Ran a trap here at IGC for the first time this week after a period of poor weather. Not a bad count for the time of year here with 16 species noted. A Yellow-line quaker was the only new moth noted for the year. Only one Lunar underwing caught so perhaps they are now going over. Others noted: Merveille du jour (1), Silver Y (3 – the highest count for a while), Plutella xylostella (5) and Black rustic (still going strong here with 4 noted).
Neil
I have been extremely busy of late with visits to Sussex, Hampshire and Norfolk over a long weekend!
Just time to report a Plumed Fan-foot from Bawdsey Hall on the night of Friday 3 October – this being a ‘first’ for Suffolk. Not entirely unexpected as records have come from Essex in recent years and this looks like the it will be the latest new colonist to the county.
A few more migrants over the past weekend included more Four-spotted Footman, Vestal, Convolvulus Hawk-moths and Delicates.
Feathered Thorn, Red and Yellow-line Quakers, Chestnut, Dark Chestnut, Satellite and Merveille du Jour now flying on the coast and unseasonal oddities included Swallow-tailed Moth and Chocolate-tip over the weekend.
