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MOTH REPORT 2023
A REVIEW OF NEW AND INTERESTING MOTHS SEEN IN SUFFOLK DURING 2023 NEIL SHERMAN This article aims to review the new county records and other selected moth species of interest seen during the 2023 season. Species are listed in checklist order, with notes on the observation as well as the location and recorder(s). Any additional determination of the record will also be given. All records are from light traps unless otherwise mentioned. The number for each species is the one assigned using the Checklist of the Lepidoptera of the British Isles by Agassiz, D. J. L., Bevan, S. D. and Heckford, R. J., 2016. In 2023, the second edition of the Field Guide to the Micro-moths of Great Britain and Ireland by Sterling, P., Parsons, M. and illustrated by Lewington, R., was published. In this guide vernacular names for all the micro-moth species have been added, some new, but also many that have always been in use. The subject of English names for micro-moths has been controversial among moth recorders for many years. With the introduction of the names in this new and very popular guide I have decided to list them with the scientific name for each micro-moth covered in this report to make it more user friendly to non-moth people. Following the record year for moth recording in the county in 2022, 2023 turned out to be a bit more of an average year, but still with some good records noted. 127,117 records of 1419 species were sent in. This is the second-best species count, the highest being in 2022 with 1439 noted. The weather, as always, affected moth numbers and recording effort. It was an awful start to the year, being quite cool and often damp (apart from February which was almost completely dry) right through late winter and into spring. Even when there were slightly milder conditions there seemed to be fewer moths than expected around, perhaps due to the previous years’ drought conditions. However, this all changed in mid-June when there was a good warm spell that resulted in some big catches of moths and some migration waves from the continent. However, this was fairly short-lived and throughout July and August it was fairly unsettled and again catches of moths were not as good as the previous year. Another heatwave in September was welcome as catches of moths increased and even though the rest of the autumn was unsettled and quite wet at times catches of moths were good, mainly because the winds were from the south. This warm weather bringing in immigrant moth waves to the UK in the autumn is becoming much more regular than in the past, probably due to our changing climate. The rest of the year was very wet and despite some mild nights moth numbers were very poor. All the flooding from the named storms may well have an impact on moth numbers in 2024. Many pupae could have drowned in the standing water and the wet, mild conditions promote fungal growth which is a major killer of overwintering stages. However, the wet weather during the summer in 2023 wasn’t all bad as it enabled many habitats damaged in the 2022 drought to recover and the warm conditions are certainly helping to increase the numbers of newly colonizing species and have even allowed a few more southern British species to spread into the county, as listed in the report below. Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc. 60 (2024)