Bio-Blitz surveys find canary moth and clouded yellows.

This is Paul Steven’s weekly Wildlife Sightings column written  August 18,  appearing in the Chichester Observer, the Littlehampton Gazette, the Bognor Regis Observer, the Shoreham Herald and the Worthing Herald.

A Bio-Blitz is an intense period of biological surveying in an attempt to record all the living species in a designated area. WWT Arundel Wetland Centre staff and volunteers are conducting a Bio-Blitz of nine surveys over two weeks. Last Tuesday was a whirlwind for Warden Sam Halpin and me. We did a dragonfly survey and a butterfly survey around the reserve in the afternoon. That evening we came back to put out three moth traps at different spots and did a bat survey around the perimeter of the reserve. We heard many pipistrelles and soprano pipistrelles around the reserve. Over the waters of Arun Riverlife the Daubenton bats were out in full force, feeding on insects. We have two evening bat walks coming up on August 21 and September 18 if you want to come with me to see and hear the bats of WWT Arundel.

On Wednesday morning moth expert Mike Snelling came along to help us examine our moth traps. Among the 22 species we recorded at the Meadow Maze moth trap was a Small china mark moth, a species whose caterpillars live underwater. At the Sand Martin hide the

Canary-shouldered thorn moth found in the moth trap at the Sand Martin hide.
Canary-shouldered thorn moth found in the moth trap at the Sand Martin hide.

we found was as fluffy and yellow as it names suggests. The moth trap at our thatched Outlook In building held a bonanza of polar hawk-moths – five of these large grey moths were clinging to the cardboard inside the trap. In poplar hawk-moths the forewing is not joined to the hind wing like other moths. It also sits with its hind wing a bit forward and these characteristics give it a jagged appearance when at rest so it resembles a bunch of dead leaves.

poplar hawk-moth
We found 5 poplar hawk-moths in the Outlook In moth trap

On Tuesday’s surveys we found four species of dragonfly and four types of damselfly. We do have more than four types of dragonflies on the reserve but we didn’t see any emperor dragonflies or migrant hawkers that day. One of these large blue and green male emperor dragonflies has been patrolling the reedbed pond at our entry boardwalk quite regularly.

The six types of butterflies we found on our survey included one of my favorites, the clouded yellow. The more common red admirals, green-veined whites, gate keepers, Meadow brown and Common Blue were also on the wing.

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