Devon Moth Group Annual Report 2011 Richard Fox, F.R.E.S. & Roy McCormick, F.R.E.S. March 2012 Cover design by John Walters Devon Moth Group Annual Report 2011, number 16, March 2012 Dear member, On behalf of all those who have contributed moth records for Devon during the year, Roy McCormick and I are delighted to present the annual report for 2011. This publication marks the end of an era. Roy has undertaken the onerous role of County Moth Recorder for Devon for 17 years, building up a thriving network of recorders and a very impressive database of some 511,000 records of macro-moths, pyralids and plumes, most of which he has transcribed into the computer from hand-written records. It has been a monumental endeavour for which we owe Roy a huge debt of gratitude. Replacing Roy and taking on the (hopefully very rewarding) burden of County Moth Recorder is Barry Henwood. I am very grateful that Barry has agreed to fill this vital role and delighted that we will have such an experienced and knowledgeable moth recorder to carry on Roy’s excellent work. Details of Barry’s appointment and plans for the future of moth recording in Devon will be published in our newsletters during the year, but it is important to note here his contact details for any moth records (macros and micros) for VC3 or 4 from now on: Dr Barry Henwood 6 Lakeland, Abbotskerswell, Devon, TQ12 5YF Email: [email protected] Tel: 01626 364080 I would also like to record my thanks to the hard-working members of Devon Moth Group Council, Nicola Bacciu, Barry Henwood, Roy McCormick and Rob Wolton for all their efforts during the past year. In addition, Brian and Lorraine Bewsher continued to do sterling work distributing email newsletters and other information and James Diamond has very kindly continued to print all of the hard copies of our newsletters. Stella Beavan, John Breeds, Paul Butter, Barry Henwood, Bob Heckford, Rob Wolton and I helped to lead field meetings during 2011, Jayne Herbert maintained our website and John Walters helped with indoor meetings, design and other events. Our thanks go to them all. Devon Moth Group made good progress during the year, with membership up, a good programme of field and indoor events, and well-received newsletters. We were successful in gaining a grant from the OPAL project administered by the Natural History Museum and funded by the Big Lottery Fund. We are very grateful for this generous funding. Among other things this grant is paying for the production of this Annual Report and for the development of a new, more comprehensive and interactive website. Reports from our AGM appeared in 2012 Newsletter 1 and give greater details of the Group’s progress. It also proved to be an exciting year for moth recording, with a succession of spectacular immigrations of moths, new county records of macro-moths and record- breaking levels of recording. This annual report provides details of all the macro- moths, pyralids and plumes recorded in Devon during 2011 and submitted to Roy. Many thanks are due to all of the members of Devon Moth Group and other recorders (listed on p. 5) who kindly sent in the moth records used to produce this report. 2 Finally, I wish you a productive year recording, studying, photographing and just simply enjoying Devon’s marvellous moths in 2012. It would be great to see you at any of our field meetings, which are detailed on pages16-18, so please come along. Richard Fox Chairman The moth year 2011 proved to be an extraordinary year both for weather and for moths. After the coldest December ever recorded (2010), we had a mild spring and very hot April (the hottest on record). As a consequence there were lots of early emergences and some very large numbers of spring species. This was followed by another disappointing summer – the fifth in a row – which proved to be the coldest for 18 years. Unsurprisingly, the cool and often wet weather seemed to have a negative impact on moth numbers. However, we then enjoyed a warm autumn, with massive influxes of immigrant moths on southerly airflows. It was the second warmest November ever, leading to emergence of spring species such as Orthosia cerasi Common Quaker and O. gothica Hebrew Character. Overall it was the second hottest UK year since records began in 1910, but also the second hottest year in the Central England Time Series which began in 1659! The number of records received increased substantially over recent years, reaching the highest annual total ever received (see graph below). An incredible 37,485 records of 635 species of macro-moths, pyralids and plumes were contributed from 461 sites. This represents a 40% increase in the number of records over 2010 and a big increase in recording coverage. An additional 35 species were recorded in 2011 compared with 2010. It should be noted that in this annual report, as previously, a record is the presence of a species at a site on a particular date, not the number of individual moths seen. Number of records Year 3 The official Devon list for 2011 (p. 19) shows the full breakdown of species recorded in 2011. Recording coverage was again impressive across Devon. The maps below show records of all species at 10km x 10km square scale for the year 2011 (upper map) and the same records at 2km x 2km grid square resolution (lower map). 6 5 4 3 2 1 SS ST 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 SX 1 2 3 4 56 7 8 9SY 1 2 3 4 6 5 4 3 2 1 SS ST 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 SX 1 2 3 4 56 7 8 9SY 1 2 3 4 4 The Recorders The following kindly passed on their records of moths seen in Devon during 2011. We are extremely grateful to all of you! Please accept our apologies for any omissions. Peter Baker Peter Goodwin D.E. Paull Phil Barden Stuart Green Nigel Pinhorn Carole Barkham Nick Hamzij Keith & Joyce Prescott John Barkham Liz Harris David Price Scott Barron Neil Harris John Randall Stella Beavan Mary Louise Hartley P.J. Reay Brian & Lorraine Steve Harvey Shelagh Rogers Bewsher Bob Heckford Tony Rouse Robert Bogue Barry Henwood Kevin Rylands Richard Bolster Roy Hilton Michael Sammes, John Boon S.H. Hind David Simpson, Mike Braid Tony Holwill Mark Skevington John Breeds Mr. Hosier Fred Slatter David Brown R.J. Hubble Tom Sleep John Burrell Bill Hudson Derek Smith Paul Butter Peter Hurst Frank Smith Janet Cheney Chistopher Iles Valerie St John Scott Julian H. Clarke Graham & Jean Jarvis Dave Stradling Ron Cleevely Rachel Jones Sam & Charlie Stripp Colin Corkerton Frank Jordan Celia Strong N.W. Cottle A.A. Lawrence Darren Tong Kevin Cox Francis & Derek Lee Andy Trout Peter Cranswick Paul Lister Neil Trout Graham Davey Roy F. McCormick Mr. N. & Mrs. M. Tuck Paul Dicken Judy McKay Pete Underhay Tony D. Dobson Joanna Marsh, Peter Vernon Mike D'Oyly Edward Mills, Dave Wall Andrew Edwards-Jones John Milverton John Walters Steve Elcoate Julie Morris Gordon Waterhouse Richard Fox Joan Oakley P. Wilson Peter Franghiadi Brian & Victoria Geoff Wisdom Nikki Gardner O'Leary Rob Wolton Una Garland Steve Orridge Heather Woodland Jenny Garne Phil Parr Oliver Woodland A.M. (Ched) George Mark Parsons Notable sightings in 2011 There are always interesting records among the many thousands of records that we collate in Devon each year. 2011 was no exception, with four new macro-moth species recorded for the county. In addition, as mentioned previously, it was a very good year for moth immigration into the county. A selection of highlights is reported below and in the subsequent section that deals with immigrants. NEW FOR DEVON The first ever confirmed record of Zygaena lonicerae Narrow- bordered Five-spot Burnet for Devon was received from Barry Henwood from a site 5 near Sampford Peverell, Tiverton. However, this colony was actually discovered by Pete Bowers back in 2003, but was naturally assumed to be of Zygaena trifolii Five-spot Burnet. Pete has been monitoring the site since then and recorded 392 adults on a transect walk on one part of the site on 20th June 2010. Discussions between Pete and Barry about the colony and the potential larval hostplants present at the site, planted some seeds of doubt and these were confirmed in spring 2011 when Pete sent Barry an image of a larva from the site. This was clearly of Narrow- bordered Five-spot Burnet and the presence of both adults and larvae were confirmed during the year. Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnet is by far the more common of the pair nationally, occurring widely in England, from the south coast to Northumberland, and with some colonies in southern and central Scotland. However, it is (or was) largely absent from Devon and Cornwall and from South-west Wales, where the near-identical Five-spot Burnet has its strongholds. Synanthedon formicaeformis Red-tipped Clearwing is a nationally notable species that is scarce in the West Country, although like other clearwings it is probably under-recorded. Bob Heckford found evidence of three larvae at Bicton Common in the autumn of 2011. There are only 10 previous records in the Devon Moth Group database, the most recent of which were from 1992. Scoparia ancipitella is a nationally scarce pyralid species that is rare in Devon and was last recorded in 1962. Bob Heckford and Stella Beavan recorded one at Offwell Country Park, near Honiton in 2011 as part of a Devon Moth Group field meeting.