Moth and Butterfly Trip to Foxley Wood - Monday 17th July
Over 50 people congregated on a lovely sunny day to see the contents of 6 moth traps set overnight. The weather had been ideal, muggy with some cloud and the traps were brimming with moths. Many were common species but this trip was arranged so we could see some of the specialist woodland moths and we were not disappointed, with a total of 104 macros including 60 Black Arches alone. Species not often seen by the regular ‘mothers’ amongst us included Peach Blossom, over 20 Small Dotted Buff, a Blue-edged Carpet and a Clouded Magpie. There were also many interesting micro moths (46 species), some difficult to identify with a few taken away for further analysis - all the records will be forwarded to the Norfolk Moth Survey. The rides in this wood are in excellent condition with carpets of wild flowers. Around half the attendees went on to look for butterflies, seeing between them 21 different species, but no Common Blue). The photographers were treated to good views of both White Admiral and Silver-washed Fritillary. My special thanks must go to Mike Gasson, who put out the moth traps on Sunday evening and returned at 4 am to close them down and to Steve Colin, NWT Warden, for allowing us to stage this event.
The photographs below are from Mike Gasson, Derek Longe and John Furse
