Introduction to the Suffolk Moth Group
The Suffolk Moth Group is an informal group of people in Suffolk (and
elsewhere) interested in the moth fauna of Suffolk and has been in
existence for over 30 years.
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Moth night in the Brecks
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The group's primary activity is recording the moths of
the county and the
group holds a programme of moth nights and day-time meetings during the
warmer months of the year (usually May to October). Details of these
meetings are made available on this web site.
The group tries to visit
a variety of sites in each year and to cover most areas of the county
wherever there is suitable habitat and the group is able to arrange
access.
New members or non-members interested in moths are welcome to
attend the group meetings although it is worth reading information
provided in the Events section of the web site prior to attending an
event. Joint field meetings are periodically held with other societies -
the Suffolk Naturalists' Society and Suffolk Branch of Butterfly
Conservation.
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Inspecting one of the
moth traps
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In recent years there has been an increasing emphasis on carrying out
survey work that has a more conservation-oriented basis. The group has
carried out surveys for various moth species including Lunar Yellow
Underwing, Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk-moth, Toadflax Brocade and Buttoned
Snout.
As well as organising field meetings the group also organises various
indoor meetings that take place normally outside the main moth recording
season. The annual indoor meeting has now become a regular fixture on
the group's calendar and is held at the weekend during the late winter
or early spring months. In the last few years this has been held at
Bucklesham Village Hall, just to the east of Ipswich.
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Around a moth lamp
and sheet
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The group is run informally, there is no formal membership list and it
costs nothing to join. To become a member usually involves just turning
up to meetings. New members are encouraged to come along to the meetings
and start their own moth recording.
The group produces a newsletter two to four times a year, depending on
time to produce the newsletter and available material. The newsletter
contains recent moth-related news in the county, field trip reports and
articles written by moth group members. Contributions for the newsletter
are welcome from beginners and old hands alike. It is available free of
charge from this web site and group members who have registered on the
site can receive email notifications when a newsletter is made
available.
The group is always looking for new sites to survey and hold meetings
at. If you know of a site that you think would interesting from a moth
recording viewpoint, especially if you have contact details for the
person who owns the site, then we would like to hear from you.
The group has produced an online guide to the moths of the county that
can be viewed here. Photographs of moths are welcomed for inclusion in
the guide, although there is a preference for photographs to be of
Suffolk specimens. In 2000 the group produced an update to the county
checklist showing recently recorded species. Since then the checklist
has been superceded by information available in the online moth guide
although the 2000 checklist is still available from the web site.
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Looking for
larvae at a daytime
meeting
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© tony|suffolkmoths.org.uk|Tony Prichard 2004-2009