The Suffolk Argus
strengd of this colony. Holly Blue second brood reports were very low, su~esti11g tha1 its cyclical nadir will give sevn,11 yc.m of low rernrds. Red Admirals were flving well into late Au1um11as a consequence of favourable wea1her and this also produced -~ new 'latest ever' records: a Large White from Richard Havard at \X'rnhasron 011 I". November (equal) latest ever. Rich.ml Champion's Small Hc.nh on 4'". Octoha at Aspal Close West and Will Br.1111e fought off determined competition to be rhe last one ro see the late Brown Argus at Suffolk Water Park on 23d. October. Generally it was a poor year for migrants, other than Red Admiral - only scattered reports of Painted Lady, just 6 Clouded Yellows, no Camberwell Beaury and just one Queen of Spain Fritillary at Minsmere on I ?'hand I S'h. July. This means it has been recorded at this site in all 5 years of the survey. There were, however, 6 Swallowtail records, from I I 'h. July to 9,h_ September. Thanks ro the response arising from my article about the Wall Brown on the coastal strip, and Richard Champion's detailed sightings in West Suffolk, the species ended with a plus tetrad score compared to the previous survey, leaving just Dingy Skipper, White-letter Hairstreak and Small Heath lower than before. The Survey is now ended, with all records included up to 30'h. November 1999. I would like to thank all who contributed, i.e. well over 700. Everyone who sent in 1999 records will have a new recording sheet, in the hope that this period of concentrated recording can continue in future years.
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June 2000
National Moth Night 2000
1999 Field Trips
Following on from the success of the National Moth Night 1999, Atropos and lnsectLine are organising a second National Moth Night for this year on Saturday 23,d September 2000. Last years event raised a lot of interest around the country with many moth night events being organised specifically for this event. The Suffolk Branch held a moth night at Martlesham Heath as part of a joint meeting with the British Entomological and Natural History Sociery-which was well attended by members of the local SWT group. Over 13000 moth records for the night were sent to Brian Coodey (Essex Macro-lepidoptera Recorder) who took on the onerous task of processing all the moth records received from around the country. Recording took place at 30 I sites with a total of 773 species being seen on the night across the country. One hundred and fifty pounds was raised by the event and donated to the Marsh Mallow moth in Kent. Several recorders from around the counry sent in records but probably the most notable record for the counry was the Pauper Pug (red data book species) which was recorded by Rafe Eley, Mike Hall, et al. at Nowton Park, near Bury St. Edmunds. I have not yet planned any specific moth recording event for this year's National Moth Night but one will be organised please contact me nearer the date for details.·
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August 6th to 8th 1999
by Tony Prichard
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Three days in Surrey
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by Richard Stewart
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Although heavy rain led to the abandoning of the intended North Downs walk on the last day, the rest of the trip was a great success. Ten members stayed at Bulmer Farm, Holmsbury St. Peter, near Dorking, a lovely area with a site that included woodland, meadows and lakes. The first site visited, the celebrated Bookham Common, didn't give us a repeat of the incredible close-up view of a mud-puddling Purple Emperor in July 1994 - we had to be content with more distant neck-aching views high up in the master tree area. The White Admirals were over but other species seen were Silverwashed Fritillary, Large, Small and Essex Skipper, Small and Green-veined White, Purple Hairstreak, Speckled Wood, Comma, Peacock, Red Admiral, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Common Blue and what.was for some their first Painted Lady of the year. Close inspection of the elm hedge failed to locate any White-letter Hairstreaks. The meadows at !field, near Crawley, were the venue the next day. This was a return visit after failure to previously locate the Brown Hairstreak. Initially the abundant thick blackthorn hedges gave us a frustrating time since Purple Hairstreaks, Gatekeepers and Speckled Wood all gave
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Purple Emperor
by BerylJohnson false alarms. On our way to the best area a few in front had a magnificent view of an antlered Roe deer, with a russet red coat, which was a few yards out in a field and stayed long enough for good views before it seemed alarmed by a dog bark behind it and ran back into the camouflage of the hedge. While we had lunch some wandered off to continue the search and Geoff Hayes was successful in locating a lovely female which was at low level, in pristine condition, and allowed everyone to get good close-up views and photos. The thoughts of a person with a dog, approaching our group, would have been interesting. Initially a quiet, seated clump of people, eating and drinking, someone shouting to them from a distant hedge, and an almost instantaneous mass race across the field, in some cases leaving bags and other items behind! Still it was worth it and everyone was particularly pleased for Paul Johnson, after several previous detailed searches had been unfruitful. Other site species were: Meadow Brown, Green-veined White, Large White, Small Heath, Small Copper, Essex Skipper and Common Blue.
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