What the Victorians did for us.

After a few dank and slightly chilly nights, it was back to torchlight searches of ivy last night. Tony and I started out at 8.40pm and in three-quarters of an hour we had found 12 species on the ivy bank in Alton Hall Lane. Among those were two new ones for the village ivy list - Small Dusty Wave and Light-brown Apple Moth, plus a couple of migrants - White-point and a Dark Sword-grass.

Dark Sword-grass (T.Fox)

We moved on to Lower Street which had come up trumps last year. First up was an L-album Wainscot. The first record in Suffolk was at Landguard in 2000, but it is now well established across the county (inverts never seem to take long). Other new moths on ivy for me at this spot were Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing, Lunar Underwing and best of all, a Pearly Underwing. This is a moth I have never seen before, but the minute I clapped on that white mohican I knew what it was. Twenty-five minutes in this spot also brought us 12 species.

Pearly Underwing (T.Fox)

As I dropped Tony off, our evening list stood at 19, so I thought it rude not to have another quick check of of favourite spot. This was soon justified with the addition of four species, taking our evening haul to 23 species. The cumulative village ivy list now stands at 40 species.

Interestingly, Tony ran his 21st century trap overnight and recorded 19 species. So some times it pays to do things the old-fashioned way. I can't say that I wasn't a little jealous of this one he caught though....

Orange Sallow (T.Fox)