Suffolk Moths Blog

With an improvement in the night-time weather conditions, traps were out at IGC last night for the first time since last week.
A good number of moths were present this morning, certainly cheering me up as its been a pretty dreary period for recording this year.
Was very surprised to find I had caught a Pink-barred sallow, my earliest ever record by a long way. Previous earliest was on 8th Sept 2008. Surely a sign that autumn is upon us! I have been wondering why this moth has appeared – has it emerged early as the season has been running early all year? Or has it been blown down from the northern part of the UK where it does emerge in August? Guess I will never know.
Rest of the trap contents pretty much run of the mill for the time of year, with my first year sightings of Square-spot rustic, Six-striped rustic, Agriphila geniculea and Rosy rustic. 70sp in all trapped so not bad at all. Numbers of Hornets in the traps also now on the increase, but not too much of a problem in the cooler conditions.

Neil

Like Neil and probably a few others I took the opportunity to trap as the winds subsided and the moon clouded over. Ran two traps at home on 14th and two in Staverton Park on 15th. Wasn’t expecting any big catches to avoid disappointment. 58 species at home with my first Frosted Orange of the year, a Cypress Pug and a Rush Veneer with lots of wasps was really all to note. Found an Old Lady indoors the previous night.

Staverton Park was a bit more interesting with 55 species. In sharp contrast to my last visit there were no Coleophora just one Tischeria ekebladella and only a few Argyresthia goedartella. The common species were Lesser Swallow Prominent, Light Emerald, Pandemis corylana and Apotomis betuletana. There were a few Ypsolopha parenthesella and one each of Hypatima rhomboidella, Eudonia truncicolella and Stigmella svenssoni. To my delight three Roeslerstammia erxlebella and a single Archer’s Dart also turned up as did a number of Hornets but they were not a problem.

The recent poor weather allowed me to catch up on some outstanding identification. Staverton Park Coleophora for the 3rd July turned up 9 species. Half were C. flavipennella, others in decreasing abundance were C. serratella, milvipennis, ibipennella, potentillae, lutipennella, betulella and two each of C. orbitella and kuehnella. An unrecognised tortricid from the same catch proved to be Grapholita tenebrosana. This is a first for Suffolk on The Moths of Suffolk but that site may not be up to date. I have finally confirmed a Spilonota laricana for my garden at Hollesley on 27th July. How is yours progressing Keith? I was interested in the moths appearance which showed a sharp contrast between the whitish dorsal blotch against the dark costal half of the wing similar to those shown on UK Moths. This is unlike others I have suspected that have just been dark S. ocellana. Another unrecognised tortricid whose genitalia suggested Eucosma hohenwartiana I have concluded is E. parvulana. I am looking further afield for back-up to my ID on this one

I was lucky enough to catch a Butterbur at 125w MV last night (16 August) at one of my private sites at Huntingfield.  I discovered this morning that the food plant is present nearby.

There has been some searching for this moth in Suffolk in recent years; although in my experience unsuccessfully.  I have taken the moth on two previous occasions (at Rendham in 2003 and at Bawdsey in 2013). It seems to turn up when one least expects it!

Despite the blustery conditions overnight I also trapped a high number (16) Square-spotted Clay across my survey area.

With abundant blackberries ripe on the Brambles and damp, cool mornings this week it has certainly felt like autumn has arrived early.
Ran a couple of traps at home last night as it seemed like there was a slight improvement in conditions with not much wind blowing. First time I’ve trapped on site since the 7th.
Numbers of species continuing to steadily decline, with 54sp noted. No sallows or any other true autumn species trapped yet. No Square-spot rustic either that I know others have started getting. Couple of macros of slight interest – Tree-lichen beauty still present with one caught, plus my second sighting of a Square-spotted clay for the year. Rest of species usual late summer hangers on. Commonest species Plutella xylostella with 30 recorded, probably local breeders rather than an influx of migrants.

Neil

Just 46 species last night (Tuesday) on a prime site near the Waveney. Conditions were ideal with thick cloud, no wind, 15 deg. until 11.30 when the cloud cleared revealing a bright moon. But even during the 2 hours of good conditions, results were disappointing. A couple of Balsam Carpet, a Pinion-streaked Snout and Sharp-angled Peacock, A .ocellana, E. pallidata and Apotomis capreana were the only ones a bit more noteworthy than he rest. Not a single Wainscot of any kind on a site where they are always abundant in mid-August. Very strange.
The most abundant flyers were hornets!

Brian

I haven’t been particularly inspired to trapping recently and the next week or so looks like a choice of a storm else a full moon so I thought I may as well report the two August trappings so far. The two nights both gave 160 species but the catches differed considerably since I trapped on 1st with a view to numbers of immigrants. The weather forecast suggested showers from France on a southerly breeze. Showers from the southerly quarter of the compass take the path either out to sea else follow up the estuary. So whilst my garden lay between the thunderstorms, Neils group with a similar idea to mine but close to the Deben Estuary at Bawdsey, unfortunately caught the full force. I have already posted on the Tuta absoluta  caught on the 1st. Other immigrants (though some may be called resident too) were Silver Y, Ostrinia nubilalis, Cydia amplana, Ethmia bipunctella and Plutella xylostella. Second brood of Maiden’s Blush and Satin Wave were taken and my season’s first Square Spot Rustic and Sandhill Rustic. I was interested as to whether or not the winter’s tidal surge may have impacted the salt-marsh species. Whilst I am only picking up wanderers I have not seen the Saltmarsh Plume, Agdistis bennetii this year. I should be interested in anyone else’s experience on this who regularly picks up wanderers. The 1st also turned up a Caryocolum proxima. I took two last year on National Moth Nights that were in early August and do not recall that period being noted for a flux of immigrants so feel that this catch indicates the species is breeding here (for one year at least). The catch of the 4th was a more regular affair though I did get three species new to my site list; Mompha sturnipennella, Stigmella incognitella and Stigmella assimilella. The S. assimilella was a particularly satisfying catch having picked up what I believed was the larva and mine on my Aspen last year.

Like others I have found that there has been a bit of a lull over the last week or so with only modest catches of tired and worn moths. On some nights there has not been a single Large Yellow Underwing in the trap!

Last night I was hoping for a bit better with some decent cloud cover. I caught my first Dusky Thorn and Six-striped Rustic of the year, another Dark Spinach and a couple of Silver Y’s. A small pale moth had me baffled for a time until I realised it was a Mere Wainscot, another new record to add to a string of wainscot firsts (Brown-veined, Small and Webb’s all added in the last 3 weeks). Looking on the Norfolk Moths site it does seem to be a very good year for Mere Wainscot with lots of records. Following on from previous posts I have had roughly equal numbers of Common and Smoky Wainscots but have yet to record a Southern Wainscot (or a Fen for that matter).

Mark

I decided to give the nearby beach a try last night (Tuesday), hoping the promised rain would hold off till after midnight, which it did. For the first hour I wished I hadn’t bothered as a strong breeze from the south discouraged much activity from the moths. Then it dropped off about 11pm and they became more active, it fact it turned out to be quite a rewarding session. Number of species, about 55, was not very high but what did arrive was worth waiting for. Macros included Mullein Wave, Tawny Wave, Dark Spinach, several Coast Dart and Archers Dart. Plenty of good micros too, including Eucosma conterminella, Chionodes fumatella (will be kept for positive ID), B desertella, Celypha cespitana, Pediasia fascelinella, Evergestis extimialis (resident here), a number of Platytes alpinella plus a couple of other Bryotrophas, possibly senectella, that will need a positive ID.

Brian