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Please note: SNS cannot extend its Public Liability Insurance to groups that include non-SNS members.
Suffolk Moth Group:
Raydon Wood nr. Hadleigh
Click to email Suffolk Moth Group
Friday 14th August 8 pm
For general recording of woodland moths, this site has consistently turned up good species, including Dark Crimson Underwing. We will head from the car park to the wood entrance along Clay Lane after a short wait.
Moth trapping evenings are nice social events and are a really good way to learn more about moths and moth trapping, as well as improving our knowledge of the county’s moths. However, events take place outdoors in the dark and can run for a few hours until quite late at night (sometimes all night if conditions are really good!), so there are a few things you will need to bring along to have a safe and comfortable evening.
- A torch is essential (don’t forget to check the batteries are not running low)
- warm clothing (even if it is a hot day, it can get chilly after dark)
- suitable footwear (stout walking boots advisable for most meetings, wellies for wet sites)
- something to drink and a snack to eat
- something to sit on, as we normally run a sheet light as a base and spend a lot of time close to this
- insect repellent
- eye protection against UV light, as the bulbs we use emit a lot of it
- mobile phone (most people have one now anyway!)
- Hand sanitizer
Meet in the Car park for the Hadleigh Railway walk at TM060404 at 9 pm.
SNS Field Meeting:
Alder Carr Farm, Needham Market
Reserve your place
Sunday, 20th September 2026 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
This will be a day of general wildlife recording on a small farm in the Gipping Valley. Formerly a fruit and vegetable farm, the land is now used for grazing a herd of milking sheep.
The farm contains a variety of habitats, including:
- Deep peat and sandy gravel
- Five acres of spring-fed Alder and Willow carr
- Five acres of dry woodland
- Access to the River Gipping at Hawks Mill Bridge
- Two ponds
- An adjacent County Wildlife Site, rewilded since the 1990s, now with a scattering of Oaks in chalk grassland and plenty of scrub
- We have been invited to visit a nearby former sandpit designated as a Geological SSSI, notable not for its original designation, as a relic of the Ice Age, but for its sandy-soil flora and fauna
These meetings are very much about sharing knowledge. You may wish to join one of several small recording groups led by members with expertise in particular taxonomic groups through the day.
If you are interested in a particular taxon (not necessarily an expert) and would be happy to help lead or share your knowledge, please contact Joan beforehand (details in the booking confirmation email) or introduce yourself on the day.
Members are also welcome to explore and record independently using the provided site maps. If doing so, please make sure you have Joan’s mobile number (details in the booking confirmation email) and sign out when leaving.
SNS field equipment, including nets, hand lenses, digital microscopes and identification guides, will be available to borrow from the shed.
Weather permitting, moth traps will be set up and available in the shed for viewing.
Timetable
10:00 – 10:20: Arrival, sign-in, refreshments and viewing of moth traps
10:20 – 10:30: Welcome and introduction from Joan Hardingham
Maps distributed and Health & Safety briefing
10:30 – 10:45: Formation of recording groups and collection of equipment. People might like to join more than one excursion. We will therefore return to the shed at lunchtime to exchange notes and swap groups.
10:45 – 12:45: Morning recording sessions
12:45 – 1:15: Return to the shed – lunch, refreshments and moth viewing
1:15 – 3:30: Afternoon recording sessions
3:30 – 4:00: Return to the shed for refreshments and sharing observations
4:00 pm: Sign out and departure
Records
Please submit records through SBIS or iRecord. Arrangements for coordinating records and providing them to the farm owner without duplication will be discussed before or during the meeting.
Important Notes
- ⚠️ No dogs please
- Please sign in and out (in the shed)
- If you wish to leave early or stay later, please let Joan know
- Please bring a mug, and a chair if you can
Venue
- Alder Carr Farm, Creeting St Mary, Suffolk, IP6 8LX
Directions
- The farm is east of Needham Market on the road to Creeting St Mary. Follow your sat nav to Alder Carr Farm Shop, then follow the signs. Parking is in the grass car park on the left.
What3Words
- Farm entrance: mash.liquid.dated
- Car park: mouths.cadet.informal
- Farm shed: causes.heartless.ground
Facilities
- Toilets are available in the café courtyard.
- Refreshments will be available in the farm shed.
2026 Conference – ‘Recording for Nature Recovery‘
Saturday 10th October
The Suffolk Naturalists’ Society and Norfolk & Norwich Naturalists’ Society joint conference 2026 will be held at Diss Corn Hall. The theme is ‘Recording for Nature Recovery – how biological recording will benefit wildlife in crisis’.
What will bio-recording look like in 20 years’ time? We will need to use all the means at our disposal to gather information to fight the biodiversity crisis. The conference will host an engaging variety of speakers working with new recording techniques, expanding the range of what is possible to record and, in doing so, discovering new aspects of biodiversity.
The conference will showcase what is currently possible and, we hope, inspire SNS members to explore new techniques in their exploration of nature: AI, bioacoustics, eDNA, drones, multi-taxon auditing, thermal imaging, and UV light. It will also look at how bio-recording can support delivery of the Local Nature Recovery Scheme.
It promises to be an exciting day! More details will be published nearer the time, but in the meantime, register your interest using the button below.
Register your interestMORE DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
Saturday 21st November
Joint events and events sponsered by SNS
Bryophyte Workshop run in conjunction with Anglian Microscopy to be held at Crowfield Village Hall. Morning and Afternoon Sessions.
Discovering Lichens, all these events are co-sponsored by the SNS, so they’re open to SNS members on the same terms as local members
8 September 2026
Discovering the secret world of lichens (talk), Alde Valley SWT Group, Leiston United Reformed Church, 19.30 – 21.00 (free)
9 December 2026
Discovering the secret world of lichens (talk), Ipswich SWT Group, Museum Street Methodist Church, 19.30 – 21.00 (£4 to cover mince pies)
18 March 2027
Discovering the secret world of lichens (talk), Woodbridge SWT Group, Woodbridge Community Hall, 19.30 – 21.00 (free)
Previous events
Walks and recording event: Stanny Farm, Iken
Saturday 13th June 10:00am – 4:30pm
Stanny Farm is a 750-acre site on the rivers Alde and Ore, occupying a peninsula in the village of Iken. It was acquired by Paul Cooke in 1987, a passionate ornithologist and former advisory trustee to the RSPB.
Paul, alongside his wife Louise, set about restoring the land. The marshes were under commercial cropping but were reverted to grassland and a series of freshwater scrapes and lagoons. Now managed by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust, this portion of the farm is currently home to booming bitterns, great, little and cattle egrets, and has been a recent stopover for rare species, including pairs of wryneck and common cranes.
On the upland, the farm’s two coralline crag pits were previously used as dumps and filled with rubbish, but have since hosted barn owls, little owls and sand martins, as well as rare flora, including one of the only recorded sites in East Suffolk of tall broomrape (orobanche elatior). The geology is unique to the Suffolk coast and a triple SSSI.
Grazed meadows on the farm have been rich in orchids (southern marsh, bee, pyramid and one record of green-winged), fungi and dragonfly species, but much of the upland remains in commercial cropping. Paul’s son, Jack, is in the early stages of a program of natural regeneration, beginning with a thirty-acre field taken out of cropping in 2023. This site and several others will be the focus of the day’s recording.
Jack is delighted to have naturalists on the farm and will set some moth traps to begin the day, and will give a short introduction to Stanny’s conservation history.
Field Meeting: College Farm, Creeting St. Mary
Saturday 30th May 10:00 am–4:30 pm
William Barnes has kindly offered to host a second field meeting for SNS at College Farm, Creeting St. Mary. William will welcome us with an introduction to the farm, covering its natural regeneration work and water control features.
About the farm
The farm extends to approximately 480 acres, of which around 120 acres are leased to a neighbouring farmer. Around 210 acres are arable, with uncultivated field margins throughout. There are several areas of woodland established over the last 20 years, as well as two small mature woodlands, and a good deal of pasture – much of it wildflower meadow grazed only in the autumn. Along the northern margin of the main watercourse, an area originally sown as wildflowers has been left to develop naturally over many years and is now a rich tangle of nettle, thistle, and other plants likely to be excellent for insects. There is also a field beside the A14 (TM9326) on former sand pit infill, with a mix of scrub, open ground, and trees. Over the past two decades, William has planted more than five miles of hedging and over 3,000 trees across the farm.
97th Annual General Meeting and Spring Members’ Evening
Wednesday, 22nd April 2026, 6:30 – 10 pm
John Peel Centre, Church Walk, Stowmarket IP14 1ET (w3w: sing.sheds.spurring)
6:30 – Pay-bar, free teas/coffees (continued in the breaks)
An informal session: Displays and demos • SNS publications • Bring and buy natural history equipment and books – please bring yours • “Show and tell” – please bring any items of natural history interest to share
7:30 – Start of AGM business
8:00–10:00 – Short talks/presentations including from Gordon Brown of Anglian Microscopy, Anthony Speca on endangered lichens and Tim Holt-Wilson on boxstones, with a break for refreshments
9:00 – Bar closes, clear hall by 10:30
AGM Agenda
Current Council Members are: Honorary Chair Joan Hardingham, Honorary Treasurer Martin Sanford (also Editor of Suffolk Natural History), Emma Aldous (Editor White Admiral & Website), Gavin Deans, Tim Holt-Wilson, Simon Jackson, (Curator Ipswich Museum), Adrian Knowles, Nick Mason, (Editor Suffolk Birds) Howard Mottram (GeoSuffolk), Peter Vincent, and Anne Wright (Suffolk Bird Group).
- Apologies for absence
- Minutes of the 96th Annual General Meeting held on 30th April 2025 (published in Suffolk Natural History Vol. 61 p. 215)
- Honorary Chair’s brief report *
- Honorary Treasurer’s brief report* (The Trustees Report and Unaudited Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 December 2025 are available on the latest publications page of the website. Enter the password 26-756/SNS and scroll down)
- Retiring or Resigning Council Members
- Hawk Honey resigned 2026
- Sarah Pynn resigns as University of Suffolk Student Representative. She is no longer a student.
- Darren Tansley resigned 2025.
- Peter Vincent retires as his four-year term ends at this AGM
- Nominations for Council
- Hannah Alred as representative of the Suffolk Biodiversity Information Service, proposed by Martin Sanford, seconded by Joan Hardingham
- Anthony Speca was co-opted during 2025 and is now standing for election, proposed by Howard Mottram, seconded by Martin Sanford
- Peter Vincent as co-optee, proposed by Gavin Deans seconded by Anne Wright
- Officers
- To approve and endorse Joan Hardingham as Honorary Chair in accordance with item 3.7 of the SNS Constitution
- To approve and endorse Martin Sanford as Honorary Treasurer in accordance with item 3.7 of the SNS Constitution.
- To appoint Amanda Hillier as Honorary Secretary
- Any Other Business: Only for questions submitted in writing in advance, except at the discretion of the Chair.
*Full reports from Chairman and Treasurer will be made available on the SNS website and will be published in Vol. 62 of Suffolk Natural History)
Field Meeting: College Farm, Creeting St. Mary – Report
Saturday 23rd August 2025 10.00am – 4.30pm
The night was good for flying insects, and a good catch was expected. Three traps were used. Two were 125 w Mercury Vapour Robinson traps, and one was a Skinner Actinic light trap. They were placed within a few hundred metres of each other. Their closeness was not an issue because of the high diversity of habitats and flora, and as it was a good night for insects to fly, they would travel distances.
I have attached an Excel file containing all the insects identified. A separate file for comparing the types of traps used is being created. I have also attached a few photos of moth species caught on the night. Two moth species were not fully identified as they flew off before a good look could be made. The Eucosma species has been listed and suggested as E. hohenwartiana because of the abundance of the foodplant and time of year, but this cannot be proven. Also, an Endothenia species escaped.
Some species were abundant in the traps; they are shown in bold. A few moths were exclusively immigrant species and are noted. Three species were nationally scarce: Parectopa ononidis larvae feed on clovers and rest harrow, Ypsolopha horridella larvae feed on apple and sloe, and Evergestis limbata larvae feed on Hedge Mustard and Garlic Mustard. Whilst still classified as nationally scarce, this species is currently common in Suffolk.
A few insects other than moths were captured, and most have been identified. These are listed. It should be noted that the green lacewing Chrysoperla carnea is a species complex of at least three species that, without DNA, can only be identified from the ‘song’ of the adults.
Raymond A Watson