July 2025 - trip to UK (day 3)

Elephant Hawk-moth - Shotesham, 26 Jul 25

The moth trap had been set in the village garden the night before, and in the morning, there was a literal smorgasbord of tasty morsels to pick through, many of which were new for me. It had been good weather conditions for moths, so the trap was pretty full, and the highlight for me was the superb pink-and-khaki beast that is Elephant Hawk-moth, a species I had been most keen to see. It does occur from time to time in Guernsey traps but never in mine.

Elephant Hawk-moth - Shotesham, 26 Jul 25

One of the nice things about the trap-emptying was that I had not really researched what species were likely to be found, so there were many nice surprises. The second-most impressive beast to me was the gold-dipped female Ghost Swift that was pulled out. As this does not occur in Guernsey I had forgotten that only the males were white.

Ghost Swift-- Shotesham, 26 Jul 25

I managed a total of eleven new species of moth from the trap - the above two, plus Maple Pug, Brown-line Bright-eye, Pandemis corylana, Apotomis betuletana, Evergetis pallidata, Ypsolopha scabrella, Morophaga chorogella, Recurvaria leucatella, and Catoptria falsella - not a bad haul. Some of these are pictured below.

Evergestis pallidata - Shotesham, 26 Jul 25

Pandemis corylana - Shotesham, 26 Jul 25

Apotomis betuletana - Shotesham, 26 Jul 25

Ypsolopha scabrella - Shotesham, 26 Jul 25

Recurvaria leucatella - Shotesham, 26 Jul 25

Ethmia quadrilella - Shotesham, 26 Jul 25 - would have been a new species if we hadn’t seen one the previous evening

Pale Prominent - Shotesham, 26 Jul 25 - not new, but I’d only seen one previously, in the same place many years ago

Green Drake mayfly - Shotesham, 26 Jul 25 - also in the trap were a few of these impressive beasts which I didn’t know existed! I had only ever seen small, dull mayflies before, but this was a whopper

Mystacides longicaudis caddis-fly - Shotesham, 26 Jul 25 - a distinctive caddis, also a new species

That wasn’t quite it though for the moths that night, as I had noticed a tiny, unobtrusive tortrix moth that I didn’t immediately recognise and potted it up to look at later. Through the hand lens, the distinctive feature was a series of 4 pale lines on the ‘top’ of the moth (the dorsum). This is not a common feature and a moth which has this is typically Grapholita compositella. However, this did not seem right at all, that species being black, grey and bright white, but this was a warm brown colour. I was aware that a few similar small tortrices do have smudgy, less distinct markings in that area of the wing, but after a flick through the book I still couldn’t place it. I then had a tiny spark in my brain about something that I’d read in Atropos just a few weeks ago, about a new species which had occurred in the UK recently which also had these 4 lines on the wing. Some internetting ensued and the species in question was Grapholita delineana - it looked good but, without detailed information to hand, I would have to retain the specimen to confirm when I got home.

Grapholita delineana - Shotesham, 25Jul25

To cut a long story short, back at home, I confirmed the ID by dissection and it was indeed Grapholita delineana, only the second location for Britain! Not too shabby, the ID features are shown in the graphic below. The first record was only in July 2024, not too far away in Lowestoft, where there has apparently been multiple records since, indicating that it is breeding nearby. It is originally an east-Asian species but has apparently been spreading widely round the world. It is also known as “Hemp Tortrix” as it commonly feeds off Cannabis plants. However, unless there is a clandestine “herb farm” somewhere in this sleepy Norfolk village, it is no doubt feeding off Hop, another food plant. I was certainly not expecting us to find a second for Britain on our BUBO weekend!

After the leisurely morning looking through the trap, and a couple of hours taken up by visiting family/doing a park-run, around lunchtime we headed for a superb nature reserve called Wheatfen on the edge of the Norfolk Broads. It was so peaceful and quiet there, I can’t recommend it enough. Lots of boardwalks and paths right through the reedbed and fen habitat, with lots of trees and some ponds, it was excellent and full of wildlife. Unfortunately, the weather was a bit dull for flying beasties to be out and about, but we saw lots of interesting things.

Wheatfen, 26 Jul 25

One of my key targets here was Silver-washed Fritillary, a species that I have managed to avoid all these years. Even though it was quite dull, we had a little sunny spell along the first path which brought out quite a few butterflies, including a single SWF swooping across the reed-tops, back and forth at quite a rate. It was difficult to pin down when it landed but I managed one distant shot as it fed on a Hemp Agrimony flower.

Silver-washed Fritillary - Wheatfen, 26 Jul 25

The best lepidopteran species which we found was Balsam Carpet which we finally found after bashing many an Orange Balsam plant growing along the ditches. It was a touch tatty, and we contemplated other species, but we were satisfied in the end.

Balsam Carpet - Wheatfen, 26 Jul 25

I had a total of 20 new species at the reserve many of which were marshland specialists. Various species of plants I ticked off included Skullcap, Small Teasel, Small Balsam, Green Figwort, Fat Duckweed (“El Gordo!”) and the huge Broad-leaved Ragwort. Of the invertebrates identified Water Ladybird was notable and we netted an example of the scarce Skullcap-feeding sawfly, Athalia scutellariae.

Skullcap - Wheatfen, 26 Jul 25

Small teasel - Wheatfen, 26 Jul 25

Chinese Water Deer - Wheatfen, 26 Jul 25

Azure Damselfly - Wheatfen, 26 Jul 25

It had been threatening to do so all afternoon, and finally, just before 4pm, the heavens opened up big-style, and we were not close to the car at all. Of course, I was only wearing a t-shirt since it was a warm day, and I was like the proverbial soggy rodent by the time I got to the car park. Luckily, I had actually brought a different top that I could change into as we found shelter from the deluge. And it was a deluge indeed, the lanes and tracks quickly filling up. We sat out the rain in the totally rammed Ferry House pub in Surlingham, where we ate an enjoyable bar meal serenaded by quite possibly the worst musical turn I’ve ever heard in public.

Wheatfen, 26 Jul 25 - escaping the sudden deluge

After the rain finally subsided somewhat, we waded across the car park and headed on out again. Andy had arranged a moth-trapping session with the warden at Strumpshaw Fen nature reserve. We arrived well-before dusk and so we had a wander round part of the reserve first. It was not raining any more, but the air was heavy with damp, and the light was poor. We spent a bit of time in one of the hides enjoying a family of Marsh Harriers calling to each other across the fen. A single bedraggled juvenile Bearded Tit spent a long time out in the open on the other side of the pond. We heard a few more though along the path.

Bearded Tit - Strumpshaw, 26 Jul 25

We wandered back to the reserve centre and met up with Ben, the warden. The first thing he showed us was a rare species of fungus which had appeared on a log behind the cottages - Artomyces pyxidatus, which seems to have a few common names Crown-tipped or Candelabra Coral Fungus. This species apparently has recently been seen at a just few sites in the UK after no records for over 100 years, and it is an impressive fungus indeed.

Artomyces pyxidatus - Strumpshaw, 26 Jul 25

We spent the rest of the evening helping to set up a few of the traps. We had about five traps - a few by the reedbeds and a couple in the wooded areas. It felt a warm night but there was a lot of water everywhere and we weren’t expecting lots of micros at least but the macros should be flying fine. Whilst we were waiting for darkness, we watched a roost of Soprano Pipistrelle bats emerge one by one from a barn, heading off into the gloom. I only know that they were Sopranos as it was a known colony, but a tick for me nonetheless.

Strumpshaw, 26 Jul 25

The reedbed traps drew quite a few reedbed specialists from across the marsh, including multiple wainscots - Brown-veined, Twin-spotted, Webb’s, Southern and White-point - as well as the reedbed crambids Calamatropha paludella and Donicaula forficella (the latter a tick for me). More impressive were the huge female Drinkers which were quite common and never refused a chance to smash into your face on their way into the light. Another reedbed specialist was the Reed Dagger which we saw as a larva first, with an orange-spotted caterpillar chomping a reed blade right next to the MV, and then an adult on the outside of the trap. Not a wainscot but a wainscot lookalike noctuid.

Drinker - Strumpshaw, 26 Jul 25 - not technically a tick, but I had only seen larvae previously

Reed Dagger larva - Strumpshaw, 26 Jul 25

Reed Dagger - Strumpshaw, 26 Jul 25

Donacaula forficella - Strumpshaw, 26 Jul 25

We saw many more species of as we toured the traps, and I had 8 new moths that night. The other new species were Iron Prominent, Large Emerald, Crescent, Alder Kitten, Svensson’s Copper Underwing, Apotomis turbidana, as well as a few species I’ve rarely seen like Sallow Kitten and Black Arches.

Iron prominent - Strumpshaw, 26 Jul 25

Large Emerald - Strumpshaw, 26 Jul 25 - what a species! Instantly one of my favourite moths.

Alder Kitten - Strumpshaw, 26 Jul 25

Sallow Kitten - Strumpshaw, 26 Jul 25

We picked up a few other species by the lights including a fabulous Oak Bush-cricket, a species I’d never seen before. We also heard a Bittern call as it went overhead, and I managed to get the sound recorder out in time. After a while, our enthusiasm was overtaken by weariness, and we packed up and drove home. Many thanks to Ben for sorting out the trapping session.

Oak Bush-cricket - Strumpshaw, 26 Jul 25

some cool guys checking out a rare egg box - Strumpshaw, 26 Jul 27

July 2025 - trip to UK (days 1 & 2)

Late morning on 24th July, I set off on the ferry for a week of wildlife with the BUBO lads in Norfolk. This was the first time that I had been on the new ferry, and I was disappointed to see that there was nowhere to stand out on top to look for seabirds. There was a tiny little area pointing backwards, which was useless, so all viewing was from inside, through the windows - not ideal. By the time I got back inside, the window seats were full, so I snoozed instead.

I headed North-east up the motorway, towards my overnight stay at the Stevenage Premier Inn - I didn’t want to attempt the full drive to Norfolk in one hop, mainly to account for any possible ferry delays. As I was approaching London after a smooth drive from Poole, I noticed that the time was around 4 pm, which was the schedule I had expected. This meant that I was nearing the M25 as rush hour was looming, which was something I did not fancy at all. As I had predicted this, I had planned that I would wait out these busiest few hours at Virginia Water/Windsor Great Park, conveniently located a few km off the motorway.

Windsor Great Park, 24 Jul 25

A slight spanner in the works was that it was now drizzling quite unpleasantly, and so my ideas of finding woodland butterflies and other winged beasties were becoming quite unlikely. I saw very few birds in the trees, but maybe because this was quite a busy area of the forest with lots of people out and about. Both Great Spotted and Green Woodpeckers called from distant glades, but I never came across a flock of small birds. On the edge of the lake at some kind of feeding area were a few wildfowl, including about 8 Mandarins. When I was a junior birder, Virginia Water was traditionally one of the epicentres of the feral Mandarin population before the species spread. I remember calling in here once when I was a teenager to make sure that I had a proper “countable” Mandarin for my British List, as previously I had ticked it from some dodgy one on a park lake somewhere in Leeds, probably. There were a few Egyptian Geese, and Grey Wagtails seemed to be breeding under the outflow.

Mandarin - Windsor Great Park, 24 Jul 25

Egyptian Goose - Windsor Great Park, 24 Jul 25

On the floor of the woodland, there were surprisingly few flowers growing but, I did notice a small clump of Enchanter’s Nightshade. I remembered that there is an interesting and distinctive stilt bug that lives on this plant which, I have looked for and never found in Guernsey. So, I gave the clump a couple of sweeps with the net, and I found two individuals - Metatropis rufescens. Not bad for a first effort, as I hear they can be uncommon.

Metatropis rufescens - Windsor Great Park, 24 Jul 25

Metatropis rufescens - Windsor Great Park, 24 Jul 25

It was a similar situation when I came across a few small plants of Common Figwort along a track. I knew that there were a few weevil species that feed on Figwort, which I have again looked for and never found on Guernsey (although our figworts are Water and Balm-leaved rather than Common). Straight away, perched up on the first leaf, were two different and distinctive weevils - Cionus tuberculosus (with the orange shoulder-patches) and Cionus hortulanus (greyer with dark, pale-dotted stripes).

Cionus tuberculosus - Windsor Great Park, 24 Jul 25

Cionus hortulanus - Windsor Great Park, 24 Jul 25

Despite the dullness, a few Southern Hawkers patrolled the edges of the trees, and plenty of hoverflies were present around the trees. Not many moths were found, but I did see a Rush Veneer amongst the many Agriphilas flushed from the grass, and I spotted a small Vapourer caterpillar, which was a new species for me, since it does not seem to occur in Guernsey. The other new insect was Aguriahana stellulata, which is an easily identifiable leafhopper.

Vapourer larva - Windsor Great Park, 24 Jul 25 - even a very small larva like this had the distinctive black horns on the head

Of course, the most impressive thing about the forest was the amount and variety of huge trees everywhere. There were so many species that it was hard to identify many of them. The trouble is, as far as listing is concerned, most of these were clearly planted many years ago. For example, the fine-looking specimen below is a Japanese Maple (or similar), which is not uncommon in people’s gardens, but not something that one can just tick off for the list as being ‘wild’. The trick for these sorts of trees is looking for small self-seeded saplings which will be countable. I didn’t really have time for that, but I did see a tiny Western Hemlock-spruce emerging from the leaf litter, so I had that one.

Japanese Maple - Windsor Great Park, 24 Jul 25

The final new species I found in the park was this strange gall on Beech leaves, which is formed by the tiny midge, Mikiola fagi. It appears to be quite rare or uncommon, with very few dots on the NBN Atlas. It may be more widespread, but it is highly distinctive and would be unlikely to be missed by gall-spotters. Even though it was a dull day, these galls almost seemed to glow.

Mikiola fagi - Windsor Great Park, 24 Jul 25

Kite-tailed robberfly - Windsor Great Park, 24 Jul 25

Windsor Great Park, 24 Jul 25 - lots of impressively huge trees

After it turned 7 pm, I thought it would have settled down enough to try the M25, and it was indeed manageable, albeit still a bit race-track-ish for me! There were no delays however, and I made good time, spotting the first Red Kite of the trip just North of London. I found the overnight hotel in the glamourous environs of a trading estate on the edge of Stevenage and had a good night’s sleep.

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The next morning, 25th July, was fuelled by a Premier Inn breakfast. I had a relaxing, casual drive north-east across East Anglia before arriving at the village of Shotesham late morning, finding out no one was home. I had had absolutely zero coverage on my phone and so I could not phone anyone, so I wandered around a bit until Andy and John returned (I later found out, when I went into the phone shop in town, that my phone had somehow been “blocked” for use in the UK, and I couldn’t have used it even if I wanted to - no wonder I’d been struggling with it away from the island over the last few years!).

We had no particular plans for today and were just going to hang around until the others arrived. However, Andy’s garden is terrific for wildlife, and a couple of hours just pottering around resulted in 19 lifers! Just the weeds growing around the garden included species I’d never recorded before, such as Treacle Mustard, Bifid Hemp-nettle, Rough Chervil, Common Fumitory and Upright Yellow-sorrel. There were a few galls and mines that Andy knew about, including Stigmella aceris larvae chomping through galleries in Field Maple leaves. A selection of new flies, bugs, beetles, wasps and spiders were seen - a couple of these photographed below - which included the large hoverfly Volucella inanis and a Thistle Tortoise Beetle (Cassida rubiginosa).

Loxocera aristata - Shotesham, 25 Jul 25 - luckily this fly was able to be identified from photos

Golden-bloomed Grey Longhorn - Shotesham, 25 Jul 25 - a rather impressive beetle, but this one was apparently a dull individual

Chrysopilus cristatus - Shotesham, 25 Jul 25 - not a tick, but a nice pic

Ian and Mike arrived during the afternoon, and we all went for a wander round Shotesham Common, the marshy area in the village, alongside the stream. In total, I had another 9 new species on this walk, not many plants since I’d been round there before. Moth-wise, we found larvae of Phyllonorycter platani mining the leaves of the London Plane growing by the ford, and we had an adult Ethmia quadrilella by the village pond, a comfrey-feeding species. A few orthoptera included some tiny Slender Groundhoppers (completing my Tertrix hat-trick), and I managed to net a Roesel’s Bush-cricket for a close view. Some fine sweeping of the grassland resulted in a new ladybird (16-spot) and a new shieldbug (Tortoise Shieldbug). Briefly joining the couple of Red Kites soaring overhead was a fine Peregrine.

Phyllonorycter platani - Shotesham Common, 25 Jul 25 - on London Plane

Tortoise Shieldbug - Shotesham Common, 25 Jul 25

Roesel's Bush-cricket - Shotesham Common, 25 Jul 25

After a fine day’s pottering, I’d already hit 35 lifers, which was an excellent beginning to the trip, and after dark, we put out the moth trap, which would guarantee a plethora of new moths in the morning.