Slow and Steady Wins the Race

Gunton Meadow 16.2.19

With conditions looking really good for a field trip we decided to head for the Suffolk Wildlife Trust nature reserve, Gunton Meadow.  I also decided that it would be a good time to introduce my 9 year old son to the world of mobile mothing.  Until now,  Nathan has only spent time with the garden trap or the occasional dusking session at the end of the road.  This was to be his first full-on multi-trap field trip and we all hoped for a good one. 

We set up the tripod at base camp with one MV and three 20W Wemlite traps dotted around the woodland section.  As night fell,  we felt sure that moths would come thick and fast to the MV light at base camp.  Hot chocolate and coffee were consumed in anticipation of a flurry of moths that just didn't arrive... a couple of Agonopterix moths,  presumed heracliana,  arrived early on but nothing else arrived in the first 20 minutes of darkness.  We decided to do an early round of traps which only produced a Tortricodes alternella and a Spring Usher.  

Spring Usher

Back at base we were beginning to think the moths weren't going to turn up but then a Pale Brindled Beauty dropped in and gave us hope. 

Pale Brindled Beauty 

Before long we decided to do another round of the traps.  More Pale Brindled Beauties and Tortricodes alternella were found but there was a distinct lack of moths. A nice Dotted Border was spotted by Peter,  but it had no intention of going to one of our traps.  Instead, it fluttered along the bank of the stream and landed in a Bramble thicket. 

Dotted Border 

We spent some time searching tree trunks but found very little.   A Sycamore tree produced some Pammene regiana cocoons and Stigmella aurella was an easy tick on Bramble but still the moths were hard to come by.  Eventually a flurry of activity produced several more Pale Brindled Beauties, March Moth and another Spring Usher.

Pale Brindled Beauties 

We plodded on regardles of the low numbers and slow pace and towards the end of the session we'd picked up a smart looking March Moth, an Early Moth and a Chestnut. 

March Moth 

Early Moth 

The Chestnut 

So although it was very slow with a disappointing number of moths caught,  with a few early stages seen added to the list,  we ended up with 11 species in total; the highest count of the year so far...