More immigrants moths pour in.

Monday 23rd May 2022.

My first Pepper Moth for many a year.

I was up again very early (4.50am!) to go and check on my moth box and my God, I did not want to get up at all! Aching from a load of gardening and getting it all straight was tough on this old body and as this morning wore on, I felt a tad ‘under the weather’, but I persevered and went to work anyway, only to be yawning nearly all day!

I rarely get a Delicate moth in the Spring time; much more of an  Autumn moth. 

A Pearly Underwing moth was also a nice surprise, proving there must of been a lot of immigrant moths around last night.

There was another superb collection of moths this morning, which included 5 new for the year, though one moth eluded me on its identity and so I put a photo on Hants Moths Facebook page and sure enough, the Author of the site quickly came back with a Pearly Underwing. There seems to be a large influx of immigrant moths coming into the UK with a lot of Striped Hawk-moths being reported. This morning, immigrant moths I had in and around my moth box included Silver Y, Delicate, Rusty-dot Pearl and of course, the Pearly Underwing. 

The very common Chrysoteuchia culmella micro moth.

The Pepper Moth was a nice surprise as I have not had one in my box for a few years and my first Chrysoteuchia culmella of the year will probably signal an avalanche of this very common Grass Veneer species. The following moths were present in and around my moth box: 

• 3 Bright-line Brown-eye
• 3 Vines Rustic
• 1 Pepper Moth (NFY)
• 5 Brimstone Moth
• 8 Lime-speck Pug
• 2 Ephestia woodiella
• 3 Tachystola acroxantha
• 1 Delicate (NFY)
• 1 Yellow-barred Brindle
• 1 Common Marbled Carpet
• 1 Bee Moth (NFY)
• 5 Willow Beauty
• 1 Chrysoteuchia culmella (NFY)
• 1 Eudonia angustea
• 1 Pearly Underwing (NFY)
• 1 Garden Carpet
• 1 Agonopterix arenella
• 1 Brown House Moth
• 1 Heart & Dart
• 1 Silver Y
• 1 Double-striped Pug
• 1 Pale Mottled Willow
• 1 Garden Pebble
• 1 Shuttle-shaped Dart
• 1 Angle Shades
• 1 Buff Ermine
• 1 Rusty-dot Pearl

Over at Portchester Crematorium today, I really struggled to find any moths around the Flower Bay and exit of the South Chapel. Singles of Garden Carpet, Eudonia angustea and Common Plume were all I could find. Even the birdlife was somewhat quiet with only a Green Woodpecker heard only in Kingston Cemetery that was of note.