David Brown, from Warwickshire, on a short visit to Dunwich, has text me with his migrant totals from the village last night. He was running no fewer than 14 traps in various private gardens! Thought some of you would be interested:
1 Gem, 6 Vestals, 9 Four-spotted Footman, 9 Convolvulus Hawk-moths, 2 Delicate and 2 Scarce Bordered Straw. Not a bad haul indeed!
Having just posted a short piece about getting just two migrants last night (including one vestal), I’ve just walked down the garden and discovered another two vestals sitting about ten yard downwind of where the trap had been. Although it’s a regular (ie annual) species with me I have never seen more than one in a night before. Perhaps i should have been out in the pre-dawn to see them arrive. Did they come in a gang? With a few crimson speckled that I haven’t managed to spot in the undergrowth?
Despite the wind and rain I left a trap out last night. Surely there must be a migrant or two? And there were – literally, two. A vestal (brown striped form) and a dark sword-grass. Being ten miles from the coast means I usually get a diluted taste of a good moth migration!
Other species worth mentioning last night included merveille-du-jour (which has been flying for a week here), large ranunculus, l-album wainscot, black rustic (a good year for this species) and a couple of dark chestnut (which is much commoner here in autumn than chestnut – the reverse is true in the spring).
I am still shaking with excitement, after securing the first Crimson Speckled at Bawdsey since May 1885!
The story goes like this. Knowing there have been a few pulchella about on the south coast this week, I left my bathroom light on all night at home in Hollesley, with the window open, in the vain hope that one might fly in! I thought this was one extra opportunity (albeit a very long shot!) to catch one, as well as running the Bawdsey traps. I then went to bed and was dreaming about this moth last night, until I was awoken by thunderstorms early this morning.
The only moth in the bathroom was a Feathered Ranunculus! I then drove to Bawdsey Hall, arriving in the dark at 5.45am. I always empty my traps each morning in the same order. The first trap by the black wooden barn is first to check. I look on the wall before inspecting the trap contents. The first moth I saw was an Angle Shades. Moth number two was incredibly a Crimson Speckled! I was elated! Inside the trap was a Palpita vitrealis.
The remaining traps held 3 Diamond-back Moths, 4 Rush Veneer, 1 Convolvulus Hawk-moth, 1 male Four-spotted Footman, 3 Dark Sword-grass, 2 Delicate, 3 Silver Y and a Red Admiral. A nycteoline bearing black spots will warrant closer scrutiny.
Residents included my first Flounced Chestnut of the year and Merveille du Jour, a variety of sallows and a lovely range of Beaded Chestnuts. An Acleris emargana was a good record for here too.
It is worth noting here that anyone out in the field this weekend, particularly on the coast, should keep a look out for pulchella in any vegetated areas. Most records are ‘kicked up’ from long grass in a similar fashion to noctuella. I will certainly be looking around the Bawdsey areas.
The memory of this morning will stay with me for the rest of my life.
Three more species added to the village ivy list last night – Monopis weaverella, Oak Nycteoline and at last, a Silver-Y. These take the ivy total for Stutton this autumn to 45. On a personal note, I had my first Pink-barred Sallow from ivy.
Tony had a Convolvulus Hawk in his trap on the 2nd, whilst my trap this morning was busy, but uneventful. 22 species of 112 moths. 44 were Large Yellow Underwing, 19 Setaceous Hebrew Character and 16 Lunar Underwing. 2 Dark Sword-grass, a fresh Red-green Carpet and 2 Grey Shoulder-knot the best of the rest.
Four-spotted Footman have been arriving across Britain in recent nights. These are the records last night (2nd October) in Suffolk; that I am aware of:
If 2006 is anything to go by, then more will follow and they turned up all over the place! Nick Mason had one outside the pub in Hollesley in that year and I ran a trap in my parents garden at Rendham specifically for the species and caught a male.
Another Palpita vitrealis this morning was the only other migrant of note here. Convolvulus Hawk-moths much in evidence at the moment – my ninth of the season was trapped on the night of 1 October.
Good to see that Keith took Palpita vitrealis the other night. It’s still pretty rare in Suffolk and certainly not annual.
Readers who have met David Brown from Warwickshire, will be interested to know that after 41 years of trying to catch a British Golden Twin-spot; he finally scored last night at Dunwich! Another was recorded a few nights ago at Landguard.
David also took three Convolvulus Hawks at Dunwich. I have taken regular convolvuli at Bawdsey Hall in the past few nights, but very little else myself, in the strong winds we’ve experienced along the coast.
Tonight has huge potential for migrants in Suffolk; with much lighter SE winds.
The wind had dropped a bit Monday and I thought it worth putting out the traps. What a good decision, as my best migrant of the season turned up in the form of Palpita vitrealis in the actinic near the house. Not a rare migrant but a good one non the less, more scarce than the Convolvulus Hawk-moth which still evades me. Not much else amongst 35 species on the night except the first Meurville du Jour of the season and three Red Under-wings in one trap. Although really too windy I trapped last night too with the optimism that there might be something else good about but to no avail and just 30 species recorded including a Heart and Dart.
Tony added four new species from ivy last night – Herald, Sallow, Pink-barred Sallow and a Grey Shoulder-knot. This took the village list to a very impressive 42 species for September. With the efforts at Blakenham, no doubt we have broken the 50 mark for the county. Still a few species to come hopefully.
I’ve been plugging away this past week or so with the actinic in the vain hope of adding Convolvulus Hawk or Vestal to the garden list. Sadly for me, both species remain as elusive as ever but I did have a suprise amongst an otherwise meagre selection of moths this morning when I turned over an egg carton to reveal a female Bulrush Wainscot. Still no Merv’ du Jour yet but it can only be a matter of days now.
