RXwildlife Sightings

Today I had 3 of the above in my Winchelsea garden. We’ve had them every year around about this time, but never 3 at the same time! Report by Robbie Gooders

One at lavender in my garden in Rye today.

According to Colin Pratt’s excellent 3 volume book on Butterflies and Moths of Sussex, the Pale Eggar has a patchy distribution and the maps show few records from the east. This specimen was one of the few moths caught in my Robinson trap near Staplecross last night.

Two privet hawkmoth caterpillars were found this week in a neighbours garden in Northiam, defoliating a garden shrub, Spiraea.

A good selection of moths have turned up in the Lime Kiln Moth trap in the last weeks or so. This has included the first of the years Pigmy Footman, Rosy-streaked Knot-horn and Starry Pearl, and as might be expected with all the caterpillars we saw earlier on in the year, there has been a good show of Pale Grass Eggar, with up to 10 in the trap. In addition, the closely related Oak Eggar has also put in an appearance, with a fine male this morning.

Oak Eggar male
Read the rest of this entry »

The warm, relatively still nights which came with the improved weather have shown a marked increase in the number of moths in the light trap at Lime Kiln, with a peak of around 70 species in the trap on Tuesday morning (28th). Highlight were a couple of Small Marbled (Eublemma parva), a migrant species which has not been seen at Rye Harbour for over 10 years. This species is normally resident in southern Europe and North Africa, reaching as far as central Asia but turns up in Britain every so often as a migrant.

Small Marbled
Read the rest of this entry »

Trapped in my garden in Hastings, Toadflax Brocade is a Red Data Book species.
Graham Barker by e-mail

Highlight in the Lime Kiln moth trap this morning was this Goat Moth (Cossus cossus). This is the first one I have seen and the first adult recorded on the reserve for over 10 years (though Sam had some larvae at Castle Water in 2008 - see here). As you can gather from this, larvae live in galleries in deciduous trees and may take several years to develop. The name itself comes from the larva which apparently smells like goat!

Goat Moth

On a recent walk to Brede High Wood I took a photo of a small moth. After researching it, I found that it is a Bluebell Conch - Hysterophora maculosana I have talked to Patrick Roper and Colin Pratt both Sussex experts, about this moth and they have confirmed the name for me. There are only 4 records for it during the 21st century in Sussex. This picture, as pointed out by Patrick could be special due to the fact that it seems to be the only picture about that has the moth on the food plant.
Read the rest of this entry »

For the last few days there have been exceptional numbers of enormous (up to 60mm) hairy caterpillars crossing the private road along the Beach Reserve. These are unprecedented numbers of the Pale Grass Eggar Lasiocampa trifolii subsp. flava known only from shingle beaches in Kent and East Sussex. The larva feeds on a variety of grasses and plants including broom, creeping willow, heather and bramble. This glut of caterpillars is being enjoyed by Rooks and Cuckoos.
Read the rest of this entry »