World domination? Not really, just a small step for a small moth up the east coast of Britain. During 2004 a total of 23 individuals were noted in the moth traps at Landguard Bird Observatory in the mornings of 10th June to 19th July. If just one had turned up I would have treated it as a rare wandering migratory individual, but 23 makes me think (or hope) it has colonised. The habitat for this species is listed as ‘vegetated coastal shingle’ (Emmet & Langmaid 2002). This makes Landguard absolutely ideal for it.
Why the fuss? Well the species has been given a pRDB 2 status. In layman’s terms this means it is a very rare, threatened and an extremely notable addition to the Landguard list. According to the review (Parsons 1995), since 1969 the species has been recorded in Sussex at Rye Harbour, Camber Sands (just one in 1988), The Crumbles Eastbourne, in Kent at Dungeness, Lydd and Folkestone, and in Essex at Fringringhoe Wick (just one in 1989). Very few other records exist prior to this since its discovery in the UK, back in 1937 with all records confined to southeast England.
These are the first Suffolk records. We await the summer of 2005 and hope more are discovered, proving that 2004 was not just a freak year. If Ethmia terminella can get a hold of Landguard the rest of the shingle expanses of East Anglia are just waiting to be conquered by it. Many thanks to Mike Marsh who identified the first example caught, Jeff Higgott for photographing it and alerting moth enthusiasts to its presence via his web site and finally to Tony Davies at Butterfly Conservation for responding to a request for recent records of the species.
References
Maitland Emmet, A. & Langmaid, J.R. 2002. The Moths and Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland Volume 4, Part 1. pp 179 - 180. Harley Books, Colchester.
Parsons, M.S. 1995. A review of the scarce and threatened ethmiine, stathmopodine and gelechid moths of Great Britain. U.K. Nature Conservation No.16 Peterborough.
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