Three Ticks

Friday August 30

It's a long time since we had a new moth for the UK - nearly as long as the last bird tick. 

At Cley yesterday, one of the traps produced a Yellow Belle. Not an uncommon moth but new for us.

 

Norfolk status
Breckland and North coastal areas of heathland, dry grassland, sandy terrain, wasteground and coastal habitats.
Can be found on the wing on sunny days. (Norfolk Moths)

At the end of the trap opening - at break neck speed as there was a Marvellous Moths session for children at 10.30 - DN produced a potted Oak Lutestring. Brilliant. From the only known Norfolk site - unpublished.

Norfolk status
Scarce.
Easily recognised by two black edged brown cross bands. Only the subspecies hartwiegi occurring in Britain.

Overwinters as an egg attached to a twig from Pedunculate or Sessile Oak.
Larva April-May.
Broad-leaved woodland. Mature Oak.

Remains well established at only one known Norfolk site.(Norfolk Moths)

After trap opening, our group always gathers for a drink and a snack (some) in the Centre cafe. We were well settled when a Volunteer Receptionist came over to tell us that a man had brought in a rare moth. A gentleman from Stibbard had found a Beautiful Marbled in the vegetation around his trap, some time after collecting the trap. This is a moth we saw at Dungeness last year biut missed the one Andy W found in his Hempstead garden.

Norfolk status
Very rare immigrant.

First recorded in Dorset 2001, only identified from a set specimen during an influx of this previously unrecorded species in 2004.

Occurring in mainland Europe, the larvae feed on Creeping Thistle, no evidence of breeding in the UK.

New for Norfolk in August 2016, trapped at Filby (D. Hipperson, 25/08/16)

Five recorded in 2018 - Eccles-on-Sea (N. Bowman, 27/07/18) New for VC28 at Holme Dunes (G. Hibberd, 13/10/18) and two at Hempstead-by-Holt (A. Wallis, 13/10/18, 15/10/18) Lyng (R.Holt, 20/10/18)
Further records in 2019.

 In pot photo taken by David Norgate

 Easily the rarest moth but 'only' a Norfolk tick for us !!