Four more moths new for the year.

Thursday 11th May 2023.

This Buff Ermine moth was new for the year in my garden.

Again, another nice variety of moths this morning and it's pleasing to get quite a few in and around the moth box at last. Many ‘moth-ers’ on the south coast here have witnessed well below number of moths of late, but it looks as though they are starting to come through in good numbers now. Even Hawk-moths are starting to appear further north in the UK and because of the south-westerly air flow of late, the south-west of the UK has experienced some nice migrant moths too including Striped Hawk-moths. Will we be getting any more African species later this year like we did last year?

Above, another moth that was new for the year was this Lime-speck Pug. I get a lot of these throughout the summer months here in my garden. Below, this small micro moth, Psychoides filicivora, is also a day flying moth, but I had to rescue this moth as it was laying in a pool of water on top of my weather guard above the moth box; hence looking a bit bedraggled!

There were four moths that were new for the year that included the macro moths, Buff Ermine and Lime-speck Pug, both common species to my garden, plus a couple of micros that are also fairly common in my garden including Psychoides filicivora which is often a day flying moth too. I also had another macro moth that was virtually unidentifiable as it was well worn. Most moths start to lose their scales on their wings and though I put it on the Hants Moths Facebook page, even the site author says it's a ‘no go’ to identify. Hurrumph! 

*New for the year.

The micro moth, Bryotropha affinis, was my fourth new for the year moth this morning. Yes, quite tiny and not always easy to photograph either as they are jumpy little things in the moth pot!

Moths present this morning included the following:

• 1 Garden Carpet
• 1 Lime-speck Pug (NFY)*
• 1 Double-striped Pug
• 1 Buff Ermine (NFY)
• 2 Eudonia angustea
• 5 Light Brown Apple Moth
• 3 Tachystola acroxantha
• 1 Bryotropha affinis (NFY)
• 1 Psychoides filicivora (NFY)

Sadly, I had to rescue this moth too for it was also in the same puddle as the micro moth. It is really too worn to get a positive ID on it, which is a shame.