Wildlife

James Lowen

The best species caught was Mompha sturnipennella, a national scarce moth with just half-a-dozen Norfolk records.

And, finally, some of the immense quantity of Elephant Hawk-moths gracing our traps each night for the past fortnight. Stunners.

Next up is Norfolk's moth of the year so far. The Alchymist, new for the county and with under 30 UK records, caught by Craig Robson in his small terraced garden in urban Norwich. A remarkable record.

Silver-studded Blues have been doing well on a couple of local heaths. Here's one from Buxton Heath, where I popped in one evening on route to a dusk survey.

BLOG

24 June 2025 Hey June

Somehow June seems to simultaneously hurtle by (help! we're almost at the end of this heady part of the wildlife year!) and last for ages (it's only three weeks since I returned from France, and that feels a lifetime ago, such has been the amount of survey work and mothing I've been doing). The warm nights have made for good mothing, with the peak being around 450 moths of 125 species in the garden trap. Good numbers of Peppered Moth, Miller, Sycamore, Poplar Grey and Buff-tip have been eclipsed by astonishing numbers of Elephant Hawk-moths - with the garden record broken several times last week and peaking at 43. Migrants have been surprisingly few (though I have twitched one belter!) with just the odd Silver Y and Diamond-back likely counting, but Delicate and Evergestis limbata are now likely resident, and Red-necked Footman and Four-spotted Footman were equally plausibly either wandering residents or primary immigrants. Here are some of the scarcer species seen.