The Suffolk Moth group arranged a visit to Dunwich Forest on the night of the 31st July 2009. This was one of several planned recording sessions at the site during the year, with the principal aim of carrying out survey work of the forest prior to changes in management. The target for this night was to try and cover the part of the forest that met with the reed-beds to the south of Walberswick, looking for the White-Mantled Wainscot Archanara neurica.

Five recorders were present: Matthew Deans, Keith Knights and Neil Sherman from Suffolk as well as John Chainey and Jenny Spence from Hertfordshire. At the site, the habitats consisted of areas of Scots pine plantation, Oak/Birch woodland, Reed-bed and damp fen. Five 125w MV (Mercury vapour) light traps were deployed, as well as a 125w MV bulb placed over a white sheet. Some lights were placed close to the reed-bed edge with the others on a track through the forest. Conditions looked very good, with cloud cover (for the first part of the night) and temperatures in the high teens.

Moths soon started to come in to the sheet light, keeping the group busy recording the species. It was decided to check the traps after about one hour to see what had been trapped.

On the first trap round, a small carpet type moth was boxed up by Jenny at one of their lights and passed to John to identify. When the group met up, the moth was shown around, most of us realizing what it was but not believing what we were seeing. We identified it as Devon Carpet Lampropteryx otregiata, a moth that was completely unexpected. The specimen was quite badly damaged, with one forewing virtually missing. This prompted the discussion as to where it could have come from. John and Jenny had trapped a few days previously in the New Forest, Hampshire and the Portland area of Dorset, both areas where the moth occurs. They could not recall actually capturing the moth at either site, but there was always the possibility that it could have been missed and imported in with their moth traps. After some discussion, this was thought to be improbable as the equipment had been stored in a car for a few days and the weather had been warm so any moths left by accident in the traps would surely have died. Due to the uncertainty of where the moth had come from it was decided not to claim the moth as a new species to the county at that point. Fortune was with the group however, as another specimen was captured shortly afterwards in one of the traps placed on the edge of the reed-bed, this time in much better condition, confirming the initial identification. This trap was surrounded by Marsh Bedstraw, the food-plant of the moth, and there were also good stands of the plant in close proximity. No more Devon Carpet appeared at light that night, which was not that unexpected as John had informed us the moth generally flies at dusk and just afterwards. Both specimens of the moth were retained, the first one by John and the second by Neil Sherman. The better specimen was photographed the next day and shown to the Suffolk County recorder, Tony Prichard, who also confirmed our identification.

We also recorded three specimens of the target moth for the night, the White- Mantled Wainscot, these being somewhat overshadowed by the Devon Carpet captures.

At the moment the origins of the moths are uncertain. They could have been migrants or wanderers, but conditions around the time of the sightings were not conducive to migration, with the Silver Y Autographa gamma the only known migrant trapped on the same night. Could it be an overlooked resident species? Possibly, but the Walberswick reed-beds have been well recorded in the past and in modern times and there have been no reported sightings of this moth. Another alternative is that it could be a recent colonist. Discussions with other moth recorders around the UK about the sighting turned up some relevant information on this. Apparently the moth has been found away from its usual known haunts in the west of Britain at sites in the Midlands in recent years, so the jump to Suffolk is not as far as first thought. This new information is not listed in any of the recent moth book publications. It is quite possible that the moth could be resident in the area, with stands of the food-plant close to the trapping site. More survey work will take place in 2010 to try and prove this.