All the people present at the moth event that night will never forget Friday 26th July 2002. No one at the start of the evening thought it was going to be such an exceptional night. On arrival, conditions looked good, but not perfect, for mothing, with warm and temperate clear skies and a bit of a sea breeze. Nine people turned up, with ten lights (nine 125watt MV lights + one 111watt actinic) that were put out in the various habitats around the back of the mere, mainly trying to cover the reedbed to find the White Mantled Wainscot. The sheet was placed on the edge of the reedbed and woodland, in probably the breeziest spot. Once it was dark, the lights were switched on and, as seems to be typical in recent times, things were a bit slow with only a few moths flying in (and being blown away by the wind!). This gave everyone time to get their specimens brought along from home to be identified.
It was soon decided at around 10.45p.m. to go round and look at the traps, with only around 35 species on the list. The first trap, certainly more sheltered than the sheet, was quite busy adding quite a few to the total. This was repeated at all the other lights apart from one in a cold spot that had less. It looked like as usual the sheet was in the worst place – this is a bit of a running joke with the group! One of the traps placed on the edge of the reedbed was most uncomfortable to look in, with it absolutely swarming with midges (non-biting!). Unfortunately for me, it was one of mine so it was my job to hold my breath and check the contents, while everyone else stood at a discrete distance! What of the moths? There were plenty flying around each light, with the numbers of Magpies being too many to count, along with large numbers of Footmen and various micros. Of possible interest were: Chocolate Tip, Webb’s Wainscot, Shaded Fan Foot (good numbers of this local moth), Brown Veined Wainscot, Pinion Streaked Snout, Caloptilia stigmatella, Bordered Beauty, Acleris cristana, Small Rufous, Lunar Yellow Underwing (another interesting species we are studying as it is a Biodiversity Action Plan species), Lesser Cream Wave, Double Lobed, Ostrinia nubialis, Cream Bordered Green Pea and Kent Black Arches. Upon returning to the sheet after the mammoth trap round, the total was boosted to 182 species! It was found that the wind had dropped here, and moths were swarming around the sheet. Garden Tiger was added immediately, and a quick look added a few more. After a short respite for refreshments and identification of a couple of pugs collected (Slender and Satyr Pug), it was off again to start packing the lights away, with the time now at about 2 o’clock! The discussion on the way to the first trap was all about breaking the previous record set at Redgrave fen last year (190 species). As it turned out, this was beaten, and then some… All the traps were still heaving with insects, including the midge trap, which was even more uncomfortable to clear away! Moths of possible note added to the total this time round were: Chevron, Epinotia quadrimaculata, Silky Wainscot, Dotted Clay, Evergestis pallidata, Ypsolopha nemorella, Broom Moth, Pretty Chalk Carpet, Sharp Angled Peacock, Crescent, Gem (a migrant from Europe), Dog’s Tooth, Adaina microdactyla, Triple Spotted Clay, Flame Carpet, Cochylidia implicitana, Agriphila selasella, Reed Dagger, Dotted Fan Foot and 2 specimens of our target moth, the White Mantled Wainscot. The sun was just starting to come up as we got to the last trap – a good job too as the generator ran out of petrol while we were clearing it away. A final tot up at the end of the night in my notebook produced a total of 261 species! With both Jon Clifton and Tony Prichard taking micros away to be identified, this total is only going to get higher! I finally got home at about 4.30a.m on the Saturday morning, having to dodge past the local milkman who, by his quizzical look was not expecting anyone to be around that early in the morning. I know others who had to travel home further and didn’t get in till 6a.m. It’s good in one way that not all moth nights were like this one – there were certainly some very tired looking faces at the Shingle street moth night on the Saturday evening!
Neil Sherman
– Suffolk Moth Group. (Article taken from the Suffolk Moth Group Newsletter)
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