Suffolk Moths Blog

Brian and I were at At Summerhouse Water, Somerleyton on the 27th. This is the site where the SMG moth night in June 2013 was held. We were at the opposite end of the site on this occasion. Brian was largely among Bluebells under trees and I higher up running alongside the lake. Unfortunately conditions were not ideal despite the temperature remaining above 10c. This site has proved problematic regarding good results and has hardly ever been visited in ideal conditions which I think accounts for the disappointments met with here.

28 species and around 50 moths, around a handful per trap. All traps made a good contribution to the total. A few first for years including V-pug, Orange Footman. Best moth thanks to Brians observation was Pammene argyrana with which he was familiar, but took home to check anyway, so not a complete waste of effort.

The threat of storms yesterday evening meant that Keith and I decided to revise our plans. I left it to the last moment and the radar showed they had possibly moved out to sea so I chanced it down on the edge of the marshes.
It proved to be quite a good evening and it stayed dry. A nice fresh Reed Dagger was the best moth of the evening out of 33 species recorded. Several other new ones for the year included White-spotted Pug, Ruby Tiger, Brown Silver-line, Common Wave, Pale Tussock, Lesser Swallow Prominent, Flame Shoulder and Phyllonorycter harrisella. Still a few orthosias hanging on but the late spring/early summer species are really beginning to show now. It’s sometimes difficult to remember that it is still only April!

Brian

15 species last night to three traps. Just 23 individuals. Lights turned off at 11pm. Only the fourth session at home this year so far. Most common was Shuttle-shaped Dart 5, then Hebrew Character 3, First Nutmegs of the season also recorded. Highlight being Chamomile Shark. My second home record.

Now that Sloe Carpet has most probably ‘gone over’ for another year I have been out surveying for opima the Northern Drab.

Thwarted by cold nights over the past couple of weeks, this has been no mean task.  The Bawdsey Hall traps have produced odd singletons (even on poor nights).

On the night of 21 April I deployed four 125W MV traps at Stanny Farm, Iken.  Two of these traps were positioned close to the saltmarsh by the river wall, with the others in the farm house gardens.

This morning I was delighted to discover three opima in the traps by the farm house.  There were none in the saltmarsh traps despite ideal conditions last night.  This represents a new 10km square and fills in the obvious gap along the coast between Dunwich and Felixstowe.

Northern Drab - Matthew J. Deans

Also of note were an impressive six Emperor Moths, Brindled Beauty, Lunar Marbled Brown, Chocolate-tip, Cinnabar, Red-green Carpet, Pebble Hook-tip, Iron & Pebble Prominents and Eudonia angustea.

Emperor Moth - Matthew J. Deans

My other sites surveyed (including Bawdsey Hall) have produced many of the same moths posted by others on this blog recently and nothing noteworthy.  It has been good to see a decent selection of prominents before the month is over.  A white Tawny Shears on 20 April was a delight and an early Bright-line Brown-eye.

Several evenings recently the skies have cleared at dusk and temperatures have quickly fallen.
Yesterday evening was very different. A stiff chilly breeze was blowing in off the sea with a clear sky when I set out to look for a sheltered spot to run the lights away from the NE breeze. Soon after sunset the clouds rolled in, the cool breeze disappeared and for 2 hours I enjoyed ideal conditions with lots of moths (over 200 counted of 32 species) and just about everything else flying coming to the lights.
A few new ones for the year included Birch Mocha, Scorched Carpet, Chinese Character, Least Black Arches & Oak Nyctioline making it 100 species for the year so far.

Brian

Last night (the 20th) I trapped what I took to be an odd-looking Silver Y. Not 100% certain I sent photos to Tony P and he has suggested putting these on the blog. Is this an aberrant Silver Y or something more interesting?

Thanks

Mark

After the promising early start to the spring I decided to continue during the clear moonlit nights. I think it was worth it as along with daytime catches I added a number of site firsts as well as new for the year in my Hollesley garden. Last night (18th) was cloudy but cold and breezy and has shown the Shuttle-shaped Dart and Flame Shoulder taking over from the orthosias. One light frost at dawn and most nights turning cold.  Newcomers in the last 7 days have been; Pebble Hook-tip, Brimstone, Waved Umber, Swallow Prominent, Pale Prominent, Lychnis, Mullein, Dotted Chestnut, Oak Nycteoline, Epermenia chaerophyllella, Pseudoswammerdamia combinella, Elachista apicipunctella, Incurvaria masculella and with ID assistance from Tony Prichard a Luffia ferchautella larva.

I was hopeful that it would possibly be a reasonable night for trapping last night with the cloud cover, but, alas, not long after dusk the cloud disappeared. My 2 traps running in the garden were pretty empty, especially the 125w. 30w twin actinic in the more sheltered part of the garden so probably why it had more in it. 12sp in total, nothing caught in double figures. New for the year included Pebble prominent and Iron prominent (singles). Water carpet, Least black arches, Nut-tree tussock and a Great prominent added a bit more interest. Common quaker (6) and Hebrew character (3) still going. My first trap effort since the bumper catch on the 10th due to the cool, clear and sometimes very frosty conditions.

Neil

Yesterday evening I was joined by Adrian Russell & Keith Tailby who came over from the midlands hoping to see first generation Balsam Carpet on one of my sites on the Norfolk bank of the river Waveney. As per usual, thick cloud that had hung about all afternoon began to clear as soon as the traps emerged and we were not very optimistic about making 30 species. But after a slow start, by the time we had started our final check around 10.30 the species tally was slowly going up and as we inspected the final trap it stood at 39. There in the last trap was no. 40 a nice fresh Swallow Prominent. For me the new ones for the year were C. proximella, Mottled Pug, Oak-tree Pug, V-pug, Green Carpet, Small Phoenix, Clouded Border, Frosted Green (finally), Waved Umber, Muslin Moth (a new species for the site) and Balsam Carpet which turned out to be the most abundant moth of the evening with 17 counted. So the long trip from the midlands by my two companions was not in vain and we left the site at midnight feeling satisfied.
Thanks to Keith’s information, we also had a good view of the International Manned Space Station passing overhead about 10.30.

Brian

April in a ‘normal’ year is quite often a quieter period for numbers of moths in traps, as the Orthosias decline and the later spring moths slowly start to appear. So, it was with some surprise I found my 2 traps to be brimming full of moths after running them Thursday night up in the woods. Conditions were perfect during the night with cloud cover and the temperature still 10 degrees first thing in the morning. Took quite a while to sort the catch as there were a good number of micros. In all 32 species were caught, certainly my best night of the year so far. New for year sightings included Pebble hook tip, Shuttle shaped dart, Muslin moth, Caloptilia robustella, Oak-tree pug, Narrow-winged pug, Least black arches, Phyllonorycter quercifoliella and Great prominent. High counts included Brindled pug 61 (2nd highest total), Eriocrania subpurpurella 209 (an under-estimate as many escaped during inspection), Frosted green 43 (highest ever total), Lunar marbled brown 25, Epinotia immundana 10 and Nut-tree tussock 5 (equal highest total).
Hopefully this wonderful spring we are having will continue.

Neil