Less Moths, but plenty of quality.

Thursday 14th July 2022.

My first Green Silver-lines for the garden. A real stunner of a moth.

Another hot day coming up and yet again, it was up at 5am (getting later, but the Sparrows are not attacking my moth box at this time of the morning, phew!) to check on the moth box. A clear but mild start to the morning and slightly less moths than yesterday but still some cracking moths for me to check out. Even that new App, Obsidentify is coming up trumps with a few difficult moths to ID, which is always a bonus.

Above, my first Oak Hook-tip of the year. Below, my second Green Marbled for the year.

There was another good total of 134 moths of 56 species of which two-thirds were roughly micro moths! My first Green Silver-lines (first for the garden) and an Oak Hook-tip was a good reward for getting up so early and a Rosy Minor was a nice addition to the year list. I have added the Ermine micro moth Yponomeuta irrorella to my year's total seeing I am getting some of these species that look identical to one that got accepted yesterday on Hants Moths, which would possibly constitute a new species for my life list.   

Above, a Rosy Minor was added to my year list. Below, a putative Yponomeuta irrorella.

Two more new for the year also involved micro moths: the small Plum Fruit Moth and also the tiny Caloptilia rufipennella, which the latter was quite difficult to photograph. Again, a cracking selection of moths to go through and it wasn't till well after 6am that the Sparrows came down to see what was left. I keep a lot of the moths in pots and release them when it gets dark later in the evening. 

Above, the tiny Caloptilia rufipennilia and below, the Plum Fruit Moth.

This mornings moths included the following:

• 1 Green Silver-lines (NFY)
• 1 Oak Hook-tip (NFY)
• 9 Lime-speck Pug
• 2 Common Pug
• 3 Double-striped Pug
• 2 Willow Beauty
• 1 Pale Mottled Willow
• 1 Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing
• 1 Marbled Beauty
• 1 Green Beauty
• 8 Riband Wave
• 4 Bright-line Brown-eye
• 1 Grey Dagger
• 3 Garden Carpet
• 2 Brimstone Moth
• 1 Buff-tip
• 1 Rosy Minor (NFY)
• 1 Common Rustic
• 1 Cloaked Minor
• 2 Lackey
• 2 Common Footman
• 5 Endrotricha flammealis
• 1 White-shouldered House Moth
• 3 Meal Moth
• 7 Bird-cherry Ermine
• 1 Yponomeuta irrorella (NFY)
• 14 Common Plume
• 1 Beautiful Plume
• 5 Blastobasis adustella
• 3 Horse-chestnut Leaf Miner
• 10 Apple Leaf Miner 
• 1 Bud Moth
• 2 Blastobasis ribelli
• 1 Red-barred Tortrix
• 1 Rush Veneer
• 1 Crassa unitella
• 5 Tachystola acroxantha
• 1 Diamond-back Moth
• 2 Eudonia mercurella
• 1 Rusty-dot Pearl
• 2 Agriphila straminella
• 1 European Corn-borer
• 2 Anania coronata
• 1 Metalampra italica
• 1 Brown House Moth
• 2 Oegoconia quadripuncta
• 2 Light Brown Apple Moth
• 1 Crambus pascuella
• 1 Caloptilia rufipennelia (NFY)
• 1 Batia lunaris
• 1 Chrysoteuchia culmella
• 2 Swammerdamia pyrella
• 1 Mother-of-Pearl
• 1 Pyrausta aurata
• 1 Plum Fruit Moth (NFY)
• 1 Celypha striana

European Corn-borer. 

I do have some good news regarding our local Swifts. One of our boxes contains at least two youngsters as I can hear them when I am stood underneath the box and last night, the adult flew out of the box. Happy days. Interesting news came from Normandy Marshes, Lymington, yesterday when one of the local birders found an adult Lesser Yellowlegs in one of the pools. However, despite numerous birders and photographs, it was then put out as a Greater Yellowlegs! But this was soon dismissed as a mistake and rightfully put out as a Lesser Yellowlegs. I, personally, have seen both the photos and video of the bird and having seen quite a few of this species over the years and Greater Yellowlegs, I could tell straight away it was a Lesser! Still, a superb ‘year-tick’ nonetheless; just a shame it is so far away. 

The adult Lesser Yellowlegs (left) with a Redshank (the size clearly gives its identity away!) at Normandy Marshes yesterday. Photo by Andy Tew.

Above, one of the occupied Swift nestboxes containing at least two youngsters. I think this is an adult brooding its young. Below, one of the many Swifts sailing overhead here in Southsea.

Above, this female Blackbird is always on the hunt for food for its ever hungry youngsters hiding in the nearby vegetation. Below, this juvenile Starling is looking to go into its Autumn moult judging by the feathering on the wings and body.