Thursday 26th June 2008 Monkton & Stodmarsh NNR
At Monkton Nature Reserve where about 5 Six-belted Clearwings
came quickly to the pheromones. Then on to an orchard near Stodmarsh where a
single very reluctant Red-belted Clearwing eventually
appeared and finally Stodmarsh where 6+ Red-tipped Clearwings
very quickly appeared. (F Solly & Gadget)
Wednesday 25th June 2008
Late News
Night of 24/6. Dragged out again by DB who was
desperate to see Blackneck. Fortunately one of his easier
demands. We did a three hour MV session in Stonelees. Poor by previous
year’s standards but 67 species of macros is rather sadly quite reasonable
for this year. Pretty much what you would expect with the exception of a
Purple Clay - a very unusual species on Thanet.
Ghost Moths were unusually common both those flying at dusk and the
number coming to light. Some of the other bits included; Peach
Blossom, Rosy Wave, Ruddy Carpet,
Wood Carpet, V-Pug, Kent Black
Arches, Dingy Shears, Marbled White Spot
(another uncommon Thanet species) and Cream-bordered Green Pea.
Micros were mostly Pyralids and Tortrix, of note for Thanet being
Perinephela lancealis and the fairly recent colonist
Eucosma metzneriana
23/6. More demands for ticks from DB, this time he
wanted a couple of Clearwings. With seemingly nothing better to do, I was
run ragged trying to meet his requirements. The pheromones have been a bit
hit and miss so far although it is usually just a case of finding the right
area. Having failed on the first species on a couple of previous occasions,
I tried a new location near Westmarsh. In the middle of a Currant field, I
whipped it out........the pheromone, five minutes later, nothing had
appeared when I noticed a Currant Clearwing land on a Daisy
flower about 25 feet away. That was good enough, so on to Church Wood.
Yellow-legged Clearwing proved to be a little troublesome
until the'right' spot was found with around 8 gathering to the pheromones -
and very smart they were to.
23/6. Earlier in the year, I delved into the dark and
disturbing world of the Coleophora - or should that be dull and boring? I
collected a few larval cases to 'breed' through, the first of which has just
emerged. This particular specimen is Coleophora follicularis
- one of a number of streaky jobs. The cases were on Common Fleabane in
Stonelees. (F Solly)
Tuesday 24th June 2008 Dumpton Thanet
Emptying the moth trap this morning Monday 24th June
2008 to my surprise was a Beautiful Snout this is the first for my
garden also I do believe the first for Thanet. Gadget)
Sunday 22nd June2008 Garden Broadstairs Thanet
I saw two Poplar Hawkmoths mating on my fence
this morning. The first time I have caught two mating. I took pictures.
(Simon Piggott)
Thursday 19th June 2008 Blean wood
Night of 18/6. The wind eased a little for a short period in the evening,
so under pressure from the colonial lister who has temporarily left the
excellent mothing in Canada to endure our misery we did a three hour session
in East Blean. As has been the way of local woods the last few years the
mothing was rather poor both in numbers and variety although this was
doubtless compounded by the awful weather so far this year. Still there was
enough to keep DB happy apparently - all that I can say is that he is
easily pleased. As we arrived there were lots of Little Emeralds,
Small White Waves and Common White Waves flying around - a few of
each later appearing at light. A steady trickle of moths came to the light
during the course of the evening, mostly in really fresh condition including
Satin Lutestring, Blotched Emeralds, Scorched Wings,
Broken-barred and Silver-ground Carpets, Small Yellow Wave,
Barred Yellow, Pale Oak Beauties, Rosy Footman,
Ingrailed Clay, Green Silver-lines and White-line Snout to
name a few. A selection of micros, mostly Tortrix and in particular Green
Oak Tortrix but I won't bore you with a list of Latin names.
(F Solly & D Beadle)
Wednesday 18th June
2008 Westgate Thanet
Rather quiet for the last
few days. A few bits last night included a Small Ranunculus, Light
Arches, Treble Brown Spot, the Lychnis and a Dioryctria
abietella. I also had a Clancy's Rustic yesterday. (Tim H)
Tuesday 17th June 2008 Beltinge
Night 16/6 - a pretty mundane selection of moths in the
trap, Shoulder-striped Wainscot was new for the year as was a
Barred Yellow. (Barry H)
Sunday 15th June 2008 Beltinge
Night 14/6 - what, wake up to a moderate northerly how
strange is that! Expecting the as is now the norm handful of rubbish I was
quite surprised at the number of moths in the trap. Best were a male
Blotched Emerald, Clouded Brindle and a Varied Coronet. New for
this year were Eyed Hawk and Dark Arches. Silver Y added up to
nine and are now just nightly fodder. I looked at five day forecast for this
neck of the woods and fainted when a period of south westerlys seem to be
arriving next week! (Barry H)
Thursday 12th June 2008 Westgate Thanet
Last night was by far my best night of the year, with
the bonus of a mega in the form of a Rannoch Looper. A total
of 170 moths of 45 species included Timothy Tortrix, Spruce Carpet, 5
Green Pugs, Yellow Belle, Eyed Hawk Moth, 33 Heart & Darts,
a late Common Quaker, 3 White-point, Small Clouded Brindle, 6
Marbled Minor, 1 Mottled Rustic and 6 Dark Spectacles.
The last few nights have produced a few more micros, including Green Oak
Tortrix, Monopis obviella, 1-2 Diamond-backs,
Bryotropha domestica, Hollyhock Seed Moth, Mompha
subbistrigella, Cochylis hybridella, Dark
Fruit-tree Tortrix, Lozotaenia forsterana, Pammene
regiana and Dichrorampha petiverella. A few macros
have included a Burnished Brass, 2 Dusky Brocades and 3
Rustic Shoulder Knots. (Tim H)
Wednesday 11th June
2008 Kingsgate Trap
Night of 10/6. A scattering of locally scarce species (just goes to show
how poor Thanet is) at Kingsgate last night with singles on Pale Oak
Beauty, Privet Hawk, Maple Prominent, Middle-barred Minor and 2
Clouded Brindle amongst the more typical 'delights'. (F Solly)
Tuesday 10th June 2008
Beltings
Night 9/6 - at last the
wind dropped into a variable regime and instantly the catch improved. A
total of 43 species of macro did not produce anything decent though. New for
the year were Scalloped Hazel, Middle-barred Minor, Green and Grey
Pug, Peppered Moth, Figure of Eighty, Mottled Rustic and Bordered
Sallow. Dioryctria abietella and a Bee Moth were
the best Pyralids. The few nights previous to this have been rubbish with
northerly winds the only thing of note being the first Straw Dots of
the year. (Barry H)
Monday 9th
June 2008 Pegwell Trap
Night of 8/6. Tim's monopoly of
Buttoned Snout on Thanet has finally ended - and not before time. An
extremely scabby individual was in the Pegwell trap this morning. Lots of
Noctuid dross - Setaceous Hebrews, Vine's Rustics, Marbled and Tawny
Marbled Minors, Large Yellow Underwings (boo) etc contributing to a
reasonable variety. A Small Chinamark is notable for urban Thanet,
other than that only the 2nd Small Elephant Hawk and Shark of
the year and another Dioryctria abietella (F Solly)
Sunday 8th June 2008 Stodmarsh NNR
The sun finally shone this afternoon so I decided
to gather my sex toys and go to Stodmarsh for fun and frolicks. Pheromones
you fools, Lure in place, it took about seven minutes (by which time I had
been bored for 6 1/2 minutes) before the first Red-tipped Clearwing
arrived. Up to six were present at a time during the next ten minutes. (F
Solly)
Sunday 8th June 2008 Pegwell
Trap
Night of 7/6. Still no great shakes in the moth traps.
A Cherry Bark Moth (Enarmonia formosana) is an
attractive and fairly infrequent visitor to the Pegwell trap (F Solly)
Friday 6th
June 2008 Kingsgate Trap
Night of 5/6. An absolutely stunning
selection of total mediocrity in the moth traps. Pick of the bunch by far
was a Toadflax Brocade at Kingsgate. Sadly the first Lesser Yellow
Underwing of the season also appeared there - where is a Sparrow when
you need one? (F Solly)
Friday 6th June 2008 Westgate Thanet
A total of 85 moths of 34 species is not very good, but
it’s by far the best of the year for me. Bits of interest included
Argyresthia cupressella, Argyresthia trifasciata,
Timothy Tortrix, Ephestia parasitella, Shaded Pug,
2 Green Pugs, White Ermine, Campion, Tawny Shears,
White-point and 2 Dark Spectacles. (Tim H)
Thursday 5th June 2008
Westgate Thanet
Rather better last night
although that's not saying a lot this year. A Tawny Shears was a new
one for my garden, whilst a Buttoned Snout put in its first
appearance of the year, Other bits included Thistle Ermine, White Ermine,
Bee Moth, 2 Small Square-spots, Marbled Minor, Dark Arches
and Dark Spectacle (Tim H)
Thursday 5th June 2008
Beltinge
Night 4/6 - 31 species of
macro, all regular stuff with Magpie Moth, Light Arches,
White-point, Grey Pine Carpet and Burnished Brass appearing for the
first time this year, Migrant types were 6 Silver Y and 10
Diamond-backed Moths. (Barry H)
Wednesday 4th June 2008 Pegwell Cliff-Top
I came across some very early mature mines of
Phyllocnistis unipunctella on Poplar along the cliff-top at Pegwell
at the weekend. Folds on the edge of the leaf indicated that some at
pupated. The critter emerged yesterday and I knew that you would be
desperate to see it! (F Solly)
Wednesday 4th June 2008
Kingsgate Trap
Night of 3/6. A very
unremarkable selection of moffs in the traps, the only thing even slightly
noteworthy being 8 Shears at Kingsgate - a good count for Thanet. (F
Solly)
Wednesday 4th June 2008
Beltinge
Night 3/6 - lost the NE
wind only to be replaced by a NW one and rain as well, fantastic, a weird
catch with only 14 moths of which 9 were Silver Y. (Barry H)
Tuesday 3rd June 2008 Beltinge
Night 2/6 - NE winds and rain returned again last
night. What is a Southerly wind? A few moths in the trap, the rather
mediocre highlights were singles of Small Clouded Brindle, Clouded
Silver, Treble Lines and a Silver Y. (Barry H)
Monday 2nd June 2008 Dumpton Thanet
The night of 1st June 2008 turned out to be the best
moth night of this year to date with 36 species and a total of 146 moths,
nothing out of the ordinary but just nice to see some moths. (Gadget)
Monday 2nd June 2008 Beltinge
Night 1/6 - the best moth was a Dioryctria
abietella amongst the 40 or so regular species. 2 Diamond-backed
Moths for what its worth, Pretty poor really at the moment, its taken me
longer to compile this post than to empty the trap! (Barry H)
Saturday 31st May 2008 Pegwell
Trap
Night of 30/5/2008. No NE wind, no rain! What's gone
wrong with the weather? Clear and a very heavy dew though, a rather
disappointing selection of the current usual suspects as far as macros were
concerned with nothing of any particular interest. A few new micros for the
year including the very distinctive plume Agdistis bennetii at
Pegwell (F Solly)
