The Suffolk Argus
November 1998
Hornet Predation
1998
Moth Night at Lineage Wood
Field Trips
Saturday, 9th May 1998 by Tony Prichard
byAndrew Toomey We get regular visits to our garden from hornets. Fortunately we get a fair number of butterflies too. When the hornets are hunting they always target a Small Tortoiseshell butterfly. I have seen them closely examine a small White, then leave it and move around the bush until a Tortoiseshell is spotted. Their examination of potential prey reminds me of a short sighted person reading a bus timetable! In every case I have observed the hornet removes the butterfly's wings as soon as it is captured. The one exception was when a hornet carried a struggling butterfly away from ~ the flower where it was feeding. The hornet soon alighted on the bird table to remove the butterfly's wings before carrying the body away. •
Thesepersona/observationsof garden activitiesshed new fight onto insect behaviour. The editorshope that many more wi// be sent in.
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Dingy Skipper survey in the King's Forest by RichardStewart Small Tortoiseshell •
by DouglasHammersley •
Suffolk's rarest breeding butterfly once again failed to reveal any new colonies but this coverage, added to that done separately by John Walshe, means that all of the remaining area should be covered in 1999. A private quarry near Euston was also surveyed, with permission, but no colony was found. The existing colony at the Wordwell end of the King's Forest was visited by several from the survey group and we actually witnessed a mating pair, a good sign for the future. It is ironic that, elsewhere in the King's Forest, two Dingy Skipper sites have been damaged by the very organisation set up to protect them, namely Forestry Enterprise. Both sites were notified on maps, in letters, and I physically escorted one officer from Forestry Enterprise around the sites in 1997, after minor damage was reported to one site. My suggested precautions for preventing such incidents in future were not taken up and at the time I disrnvcred the damage I was, undast.indably, very upset. Since then an on-,ite meeting lus taken place, future 111.1n.1gerncnt h.1sb,cn agreed for both sites .1nd one 11.1,bc.:n scarified, with removal of b.1rk litter and seeding with birdsfoot trefoil, cur-leaved and dovesfoot cranesbill, by Marie and myself. More seed will be used next Spring.
Five people turned up for this night in Lineage Wood. Whereas most parts of Suffolk seemed to experience quite a warm night Lineage Wood seemed to be quite cold. In addition a fullish moon in the clear sky promised to provide some competition with the lights. As a result not many moths turned up at the lights although the quality made up for the quantity. The area we trapped within the wood had some large stands of beech so it was not too surprising that several Barred Hook-tips turned up at the light. This species is not that common in Suffolk probably due to the lack of stands of beech trees. Several Orange Footman were seen during the evening which is another very localised moth within Suffolk. A singleton Sloe Carpet turned up in one of the traps near the end of the evening before the generator decided to pack up. The Sloe Carpet feeds on blackthorn and although there are not many records of it in Suffolk Essex mothers find it in quite large numbers around Colchester where they have large thickets of blackthorn. The lack of power brought a rather abrupt end to the evening although with the cold not many of us were that displeased to pack up. The full species list was; Anthophila fabriciana (the Nettle-tap), Plutella xylostella (the Diamond Backed Moth), Syndemis musculana, Barred Hook-tip, Red Twinspot Carpet, Common Carpet, Shoulder Stripe, Water Carpet, Purple Bar, Small Phoenix, Broken-barred Carpet, Green Carpet, Rivulet, Brindled Pug, Scorched
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