A good showing of moths in the drizzle.

Monday 22nd August 2022.

My first ever Carnation Tortrix resting on the side of the moth box.

It was a bit of a battle early this morning as a wave of drizzle came in and made checking the moth box a tad difficult. Yes, I lost a few due to being exposed to the weather, but the majority played ball. I even brought the moth box into the kitchen a couple of times, but the weather occasionally got a little better and so I went outside.

Another Bordered Straw moth (a very good year for me personally for this species) was in one of the outside egg trays this morning.

There were at least 70 moths of 23 species recorded this morning and among them was my first ever Carnation Tortrix perched on the side of the moth box. Apparently, they are reasonably common and extremely variable in colour, but I have been moth-ing for well over 15 years and I have probably overlooked them as Light Brown Apple Moths in the past! Migrant moths were on show with Bordered Straw, Dark Sword-grass and a Rush Veneer and more than likely, a lot of the Pale Mottled Willows were probably migrant moths too. I hope to get a Clancy’s Rustic among them soon. 

This smart Flounced Rustic was most welcome today.

After not putting the moth box out for several days, I was more than happy with the haul I had this morning. I even woke up to a Setaceous Hebrew Character and a Box Tree Moth in my bedroom!! No Garden Tigers in or around the box, but 15 Pale Mottled Willow and 11 Vines Rustic made up the bulk of the moths. Rain is forecast this morning, but it will get drier in the afternoon. 

Right, the Dark Sword-grass next to a Pale Mottled Willow. Probably both are immigrants. 

Moths present this morning included the following:

• 1 Bordered Straw
• 1 Dark Sword-grass
• 1 Double-striped Pug
• 5 Lime-speck Pug
• 1 Cabbage Moth
• 1 Bright-line Brown-eye
• 2 Willow Beauty
• 1 Large Yellow Underwing
• 15 Pale Mottled Willow
• 11 Vines Rustic
• 1 Brimstone Moth
• 4 Small Dusty Wave
• 2 Setaceous Hebrew Character
• 3 Square-spot Rustic 
• 1 Heart & Dart
• 1 Flounced Rustic
• 1 White Ermine
• 4 Box Tree Moth
• 7 Common Plume
• 3 Tachystola acroxantha
• 2 Apple Leaf Miner
• 1 Cyclamen Tortrix
• 1 Blastobasis rebeli
• 1 Rush Veneer.

Cabbage Moth.

I was back up at Queen Elizabeth Hospital again this afternoon and while sitting with my wife, looking through the hospital window, I pointed out a Peregrine, a male by the size of it, soaring over the hospital until it flew off west, scattering the local Pigeons in doing so. I said to Becky, I wonder what list of birds you could see here from this viewpoint looking towards Portsdown Hill? She even spotted a Common Buzzard soaring over the Hill from her Hospital bed!! There is nothing wrong with my wife's eyesight for sure! Another Common Buzzard was seen in the usual place along the M275 as I made my way back up to the Hospital late this afternoon.

An Osprey was perched up on the dead trees on Binnes Island, Langstone Harbour, again and showed well most of the day for those who went to view the bird, although it seems a rather quiet day in Hampshire with a few Black Terns reported and a Gannet reported on the low tide just within Portsmouth Harbour. Is it a sick bird, perhaps? The four Glossy Ibis were on Titchfield Haven again and most likely the same birds we saw earlier this month at Hook-with-Warsash.

A poor photo of the Leaf Blotch Miner micro moth on the sheet this morning.

Tonight, I had to get a few moths out of the house, where in the downstairs loo, there was both a Flounced Rustic and Small Dusty Wave perched on the wall. So, quickly grabbing my pot, I managed to put both the moths safely out the back door. Then it was the back bedroom where a Setaceous Hebrew Character, Vines Rustic and a Box Tree Moth had taken up residence! I managed to grab the Vines, but I shall have to do the others tomorrow.  Finally, I had an unusual micro moth on the sheet this morning and though the photo I took on my mobile phone wasn't the sharpest, I thought I would give Obsidentify a go and it came up with 97% sure it was a Leaf Blotch Miner, Acrocercops brongniardella, which would be another addition to my moth life list! Apparently, a very local species in Southern England that prefers Oak trees.