Titchwell is not only a fabulous bird reserve but is also a fantastic place to see other wildlife too. On Wednesday mornings, Julie, John and Roger, some of our wonderful volunteers run and organize a moth morning, where from 9.30am onwards until 12.30pm they open up the moth trap that we have left running throughout the night to see what moths have been lured to the light during the hours of darkness.
Although moths can be found flying at most times of the year, the number of species and numbers of each species increases with warmer weather at night. Here at Titchwell we will begin our moth-trapping again in March 2024 and will be running our first Moth Morning on 27th at 9.30am.
It is hoped that we can have a monthly round-up blog just as we do for bird sightings. So watch this space!
Julie has kindly supplied a short round up of last year which can be seen here:
Among 33 new species for the reserve in 2023 were eight new macro moths - Clouded Brindle, Yarrow Pug, Coronet, Oblique Carpet, Cypress Pug, Lunar Yellow Underwing, Deep-brown Dart and Delicate. Oblique Carpet is only the third record for NW Norfolk in the last 20 years. The micro Uncinus obductella (now called Marjoram Knot-horn) was a Titchwell first on 1 August and only the fourth record for the county. The first record was just a year previously and the extreme heat of July 2022 may have caused dispersal away from its usual Kent locations.
With these additions, the Titchwell moth list now stands at 802 with some older records still being added.
As ever, some species did better in 2023 and some worse – see table below.
2022
2023
Overall count
4718
6721
+42%
Overall species
417
413
-1%
Setaceous Hebrew Character
465
198
-57%
Garden Grass Veneer
404
1145
+183%
Common Wainscot
130
226
+74%
Turnip
101
524
+419%
Green Oak Tortix
17
90
+429%
May Highflyer
30
11
-63%
Willow Ermine
0
38
--
Green Oak Tortrix moth
Photo Credit: John Stroud
Oblique Carpet moth
Uncinus obductella moth
Overall Hawk-moth numbers were down 62% from 55 in 2022 to 21 in 2023, mainly due to Poplar Hawk-moth numbers being down 61%, and with no Eyed Hawk-moths recorded compared to 6 in 2022. What does 2024 hold for these beauties?
We still haven’t trapped the dreaded Box-tree Moth on the reserve, although it has been recorded locally, and we’re also still eagerly waiting for Jersey Tigers to arrive. Maybe in 2024?