SUFFOLK LEPIDOPTERA IN 1978 H. E.
CHIPPERFIELD
Mild conditions prevailed for the first two weeks in the New Y e a r and Mr. R. Eley of Nowton in West Suffolk recorded the pale brindled beauty, Apocheima pilosaria D. & S., on Ist January and the hibernating mottled umber, Erannis defoliaria Clerck, on 2nd of the month. From the middle of January until well into March cold easterly winds kept the temperature low and few insects were seen. In Walberswick the first yellow horned, Achlya flavicornis Tutt, came to my M . V . light on 13th March, the oak beauty, Biston strataria Hufn., on 28th and on 30th the orange underwing, Archiearis parthenias Linn., was Aying in numbers in Blythburgh Fen Wood. Düring March and April the commoner 'Quaker' moths appeared but in smaller numbers than usual. On 22nd April at a Suffolk Trust for Nature Conservation meeting at Redgrave/Lopham Fen tapping some sallow bushes produced several larvae of the slender pug, Eupithecia tenuiata Hübn., a n u m b e r of two species of Eriocrania and a female of the longhorn moth, Adela cuprella, a species not often encountered in East Anglia. T h e continuing cool weather retarded emergence of the early butterflies but during May the three common 'whites' a p p e a r e d together with the orange-tip, Anfhocharis cardamines Ver., small heath, Coenonympha pamphilus Linn., green hairstreak, Callophrys rubi Linn., and small copper, Lycaena phlaeas Fab. A m o n g the 'browns' the wall brown, Lasiommata megera Linn., ringlet, Aphantopus hyperantus Linn., and meadow brown, Maniola jurtina Linn., were rather uncommon near the coast although they were more plentiful inland and Mr. R. Eley reported them as very common in the Breck District with the addition of the speckled wood, Pararge aegeria But. The hedge brown, Pyronia tithonus Ver., was a b u n d a n t throughout the county. O n 23rd May I paid a visit to Tunstall Forest to see if a plantation of Abies grandis supported colonies of two tortrices whose larvae had recently been found to feed on this food plant in Hampshire. I found that the faint silver-striped bell, Epinotia subsequana Haw., was present in fair numbers but there was no sign of the other species. On a large larch tree larval cases of Coleophora laricella Hübn., were quite Trans. S u f f . Nat. Vol. 18 part 1.