Suffolk Moths Blog

Feeling a bit left out with all these good records going on, but still; On the 25th my first home trapping for July and a decent 118 species including Oak Eggar which is widespread up here, several Poplar species with good numbers of Swallow Prom, Poplar Hawk and a couple of Olive. Best moth this night Wormwood which has become my home special every warm July,last year being particularly good with three I believe, this was my fifth.

Sat. 26th I went to the Western, Carr end, of Fritton Lake hoping for Dotted Footman. Brian went to Upton Fen, Norfolk and saw it there. For me it didn’t show, along with a host of other species as my total for the night was only 56, around 100 less than it could have been. A number of factors including a big drop in temperature as the breeze disappeared and there was no cloud cover until packing up at midnight. Gold-spot and gigantella seen. As were a number of Hornets,15, which occurred in three of the four traps with two of the traps switched off early in the night. Best Hornet catch went to the actinic with 8 and they are a serious problem with the twin actinic Skinner as they constantly swarm over the tubes making potting them next to impossible so this was first off, a nearby Mv had 6. The traps were not as far apart as normal as I focused on the visible patches of Reed in the Carr and I must have encircled the Hornets nest, worth keeping in mind for any further visit to the site.

Better at home again on Sunday night with my first Tree-lichen Beauty in a trap before I went to bed. Next best moth was Least Carpet with 2. 105 species recorded. Wasp numbers high for the time of year at home.

Having recovered from my recent illness, I’ve started running more traps and away from the garden. With the warm weather, this brought in some very good catches as well as some nice moths. 24th, 134sp in 2 traps, too many moths to count any numbers so just did a species list. Best moths: Dotted footman and Acrobasis tumidana, also Chevron, Psoricoptera gibbosella, Pandemis corylana (first for year), Tree-lichen beauty, Olive, White satin (seems to be having a good year round here), Kent black arches and Grass emerald. 25th, just a single trap in the garden as I was out in the field as well. 117sp, best a Garden dart, a moth I haven’t seen for years. Others: Acrolepiopsis assectella (not welcome really, don’t want my Onions attacked!), Tree-lichen beauty, Caloptilia populetorum, Ling pug.
Last night (26th), 3 traps, 2 mv and an actinic running in an area of Alder carr woodland that has been very productive in the past. Another big catch of moths, but species of interest very limited. 116sp, not as many as expected. Actinic trap poor with little in it. Catch dominated by Blastobasis adustella (550 estimated count), Agriphila straminella (500 estimated count), Dingy footman (120+), Black arches (75+) and Nut-tree tussock (55+). Strangely low underwing count with only singles of Large yellow and Lesser yellow recorded, no others at all! Only 1 Dark arches too. Of note: Straw underwing (first for season), Coronet, Tree-lichen beauty (only 1), Gold swift (female) and Flame carpet.
Probably back to trapping in the garden tonight with just one trap so I can catch up a bit!

Happy trapping!

Neil

Friday night saw a group of us heading up to Aldeburgh for a hastily arranged trapping session to try and cash in on the migration wave that was taking place in the warm conditions. 11 traps (4 actinic) were put out around the ruined cottage halfway along the road to Thorpeness.It was a busy night, with the actinic traps seemingly performing better than the mvs. 180+ species were recorded and yes we were lucky and caught some migrants. Best moth was the Oak processionary in John Chainey’s actinic trap, a nice fresh individual. We also had 4 Cydia amplana, a Dotted footman, a Tree-lichen beauty (that could have been a migrant but also possibly a resident), a few Silver Y, quite a number of Plutella xylostella and 3 Painted lady butterflies (at the traps).
Other resident/wandering species of note included: White-mantled wainscot (2), Green arches (can’ remember seeing this moth at this site before the many times we have trapped it so another possible migrant), Dog’s tooth (lots), Silky wainscot, Lesser cream wave, Agriphila selasella, Reed dagger, Isophrictis striatella, Crescent, Chevron, Euzophera cinerosella, Eucosma lacteana, Webb’s wainscot, Six-striped rustic (first for the season), Epinotia signatana, Gold spot and Rosy rustic (first for the season for me). Best micro was an orangey tortrix which is looking like Epinotia caprana but will need dissection to confirm.

Another very good night’s trapping, hopefully it will continue for a while longer.

Neil

With apologies for the reference to the classic Tom Hanks movie quote but, for me, one of the joys of garden trapping is that you never quite know what you’re going to get. OK, at this time of the year there are the ever present Dark Arches and yellow underwing species that seem intent on upsetting just about everything else in the trap but this morning I managed to rescue two new species for the garden before they were put to flight – a female Donacuala forficella, and a White-line Dart. To be honest, I was actually hoping for a Cydia amplana but whose complaining. Happy trapping

Good numbers of nice moths over the past week, though still nothing mega. What has impressed me has been the variety of predators gathering at night around my garden MV. Two species of bats are regular (pipistrelle and a gang of whiskered, I think). A little owl has appeared a couple of times, sitting a few feet away and grabbing privet hawks or other big moths as they arrived. And last night at 11.00 a barn owl was circling a few metres up, either hunting for moths or using the light to look for voles. And I dread to think how many moths that have sat around in the grass get hoovered up the next day by blackbirds and robins. My worst avian culprit this summer has been a wren, which is feeding a big brood and has become a bit precocious. Yesterday evening I also recorded hedgehog, common shrew and pygmy shrew in the garden, all looking well-fed and determined. I think I will have to give the trap a rest – it’s making moth-hunting too easy.

At Bawdsey Hall one of the traps was this morning graced by the presence of a Scarce Silver Y – only the third area record and first since 2006.  Three Silver Y were also trapped along with Cydia amplana and Rush Veneer.

David Wilson, up at Blythburgh, did one better catching a Silvery Gem E. virgo – only the second British record and a ‘first’ for Suffolk.

Let’s hope these north/north-east winds bring us more goodies!

On the 18th at Herringfleet Hills with Brian and 9 traps. The storms were not due to effect us up in this corner and we escaped with a little light rain and  distant rumbles long after we had left the site at 3.45am. Looking for a ‘mega’ catch this night the first trap that I began to set out had to be temporarily abandoned as I placed the sheet over several ant holes at a fantastic point above a steep drop. I was attacked by a  swarm of flying ants which forced me to run off, even then some followed me a considerable distance, biting, but fairly harmless as in no swelling etc. There were around ten Brown hawkers hunting the airborne ants when I returned to retrieve and re-position the trap.

Everything else went smoothly and we tallied 229 species. N. fimbriata dominated the traps out in the open on the high ground, they were in the hundreds. A zelleri the best micro with two taken. 5 P. alpinella also recorded and a single Woodsage Plume. O nubilalis  seen at this site in number every summer 3+ this night.  Y rorrella 2. Acleris holmiana was new to us both with 2. Macros of interest; Triple-spotted Clay 10+, White-line Dart well over 20. The only migrant of interest, a Vestal, graced one of Brian’s traps which was great as he had never caught one before. We were both pleased to see a new macro for us in Barred Hook-tip with 2. We have yet to find it in the Beech woods and it was odd to get it here as there is no Beech at all. Technically the best was White-mantled Wainscot with one high up on the light grassland, well over a mile from the nearest known site in Somerleyton A nice black streaked Silky Wainscot also seen along with Single Red-necked Footman and Scarce Silver-lines. The first Canary shouldered Thorns of the season too!

On the 20th my mission was to find White-mantled Wainscot  by the sewage works at Herringfleet marshes, an ideal spot with dry growing reed but it didn’t show and it was a disappointing night. Despite the surprise of finding one at the hills 1/3 of a mile away two nights previous it may be just a little too early for all except a few very early ones. Will revisit for them in 3 weeks. Saturday nights heavy storm with 3 hours of rain may well have affected numbers of moths in the open in particular for Sunday nights experience of just over 100 species, which included a single Gothic and lots, as last visit, of S. gigantella.

Like others I put the trap out in the garden last night and was woken in the early hours by the approaching storm. After covering the trap and admiring the light show I went back to bed and was surprised that we got little rain. The trap was heaving but thousands of flying ants and Large Yellow Underwings had severely battered the moths. Shining out from the masses though was a pristine Clouded Magpie, a new site record. Also present was a Lobster Moth, an oddly patterned Marbled Beauty, but the only migrants were a single Silver Y and a handful of Diamond-backs.

A few new firsts in the last week or so have included Slender Brindle (12th), Round-winged Muslin (13th) and Brown-veined Wainscot (17th). Other notable moths have been Olive, Magpie, Currant Pug and a regular one or two Minor Shoulder-knot. The presumed Syncopacma larseniella is again appearing in good numbers this year.

Mark