Low numbers of moths again.

Thursday 3rd August 2023.

The Holly Blue butterfly this morning was nice, but occasionally, a butterfly species will be found within the moth box.

After yesterday’s washout, it was nice to get back to some form of nature and so my moth box duly obliged. However, it wasn't any moth that got the ‘star billing’. It was actually a butterfly, a Holly Blue to be exact and as I spent around 5 minutes chasing it around the moth box (where it was walking about between the top of the box and the rain guard (fume!)), it finally settled on the white sheet where it was more than happy to pose for me to take a photo!

A rather worn Barred Fruit-tree Tortrix was new for the year.

Sadly, apart from that lovely insect, there were relatively few macro moths in and around the moth box and if it wasn’t for the many Light Brown Apple Moths, it would have been a very poor showing. The weather probably plays its part, though it was quite mild this morning and a bonus of being dry after yesterday's horrible weather helped bring in a few moths. Last night’s Brimstone Moth perched on the box was nowhere to be seen before I retired to bed. 

Thankfully, I did have one new moth for the year when I carefully checked the photos of one particular odd looking Light Brown Apple Moth. On closer inspection, it turned out to be my first Barred Fruit-tree Tortrix for the year, though a little worn I might add.

Square-spot Rustic.

The moths recorded this morning included the following:

• 1 Shuttle-shaped Dart
• 1 Square-spot Rustic
• 2 Lime-speck Pug
• 2 Silver Y
• 1 Small Dusty Wave
• 6 Common Plume
• 2 Dingy Dowd
• 1 Marsh Dowd
• 18 Light Brown Apple Moth
• 3 Ruddy Streak
• 2 Four-spotted Obscure
• 1 Beautiful Plume
• 1 Bird-cherry Ermine
• 1 Apple Leaf Miner
• 1 Barred Fruit-tree Tortrix (NFY)

Update:  1 Dark Neb (NFY)

I read that some of the ‘Lazee Birders’ were doing a seawatch from the Milford Shelter yesterday morning, hoping for some good seabirds to pass their way. Sadly not. I am not sure what they saw but the weather was dire. I was even tempted to do a couple of hours from my Southsea shelter but the rain was consistent throughout the afternoon here. The place to be for seawatching must have been down on the Cornish headlands where incredible numbers and a variety of seabirds were pouring through on 50mph winds! 

For example, Porthgwarra (a superb seawatching site that I have been and been successful with in the past) reeled off at least 5500+ Cory Shearwaters, 250+ Great Shearwaters, 100+ Sooty Shearwaters, Balearic Shearwaters, 3 Pomarine Skua, several Wilson’s Storm Petrels, numerous Storm Petrels, at least 2 Fea’s type Petrels, Great Skua and nearby Pendeen fared superbly with the above species too. Nearby St. Catherine’s Point on the Isle of Wight (I have done some seawatching from there in the past too!) had a Cory’s Shearwater heading west as well as a few Balearic Shearwaters. With the right strong winds and late July early August viewing, one should come up with the goods. Years ago, I remember seawatching off both Pendeen & Porthgwarra one weekend in exactly the right conditions and saw all the big Shearwaters in big numbers and a cracking supporting cast of seabirds. Simply amazing.  

The back of my fathers garden in Lovedean. The Buddleia dominates the garden, but plenty of other plants around to attract the insects.

Later this morning, I went north to visit my father up in Lovedean and during the three hours I was there, there was a good list of butterflies and a few birds seen. My father has turned his back garden into a ‘wildlife garden’ and though he grows a lot of his own vegetables and some plants, the rest of the garden is allowed to run wild; which in turn benefits the insects and invertebrates within the garden.

A huge Buddleia tree dominates the back of the garden which, during the time I was there, attracted an array of butterflies including Red Admiral, Peacock, Gatekeeper, Small and Large White, Brimstone, Meadow Brown and a Holly Blue. There were plenty of Buff-tailed Bumblebees nectaring on the flowers and even a Hornet-mimic Hoverfly came into the garden and took full advantage of the flowering Buddleia. I used to have a large tree attracting plenty of the above last year, until my ‘better half’ decided to have the tree chopped down and replaced with some ornamental Buddleia that blooms different coloured flowers. It is currently about 18 inches tall at the moment! My father was growing Mint in the garden as well as other plants and sure enough, a Mint Moth flew in and landed several times on the plants!

My father even had a Hummingbird Hawk-moth in this garden yesterday, his first of the year and he told me that he is hoping to put the moth box on tonight. He has had some decent moths in the past and so will keep me updated on his catches by taking photos and sending them to me via Whatsapp.

I checked the garden and my fathers bird feeders, noticing good numbers of House Sparrows on the feeders, but my sharp eyes picked out a female Sparrowhawk soaring high overhead and the Sparrows hadn't even noticed! I bet she had noticed them! One male Sparrowhawk flew between my fathers house and his neighbours yesterday, no doubt after the local Sparrows. My father has a big passion for wildlife (he introduced me to birding when I was very young) and at the age of 78, it's good that it keeps him occupied and not sitting in front of a telly all day. He is passionate about gardening and growing his own plants and the wildlife is a big bonus. Even the Tench and Goldfish came up to the surface in his pond to show themselves while I was there.

While chatting to him in the Conservatory, a Large White butterfly flew in and fluttered around us, totally oblivious of us as it explored the area and then eventually flew out back into the garden. Amazing. As my father said, who needs television when you can watch all this wildlife on your doorstep?   

Later in the afternoon, two small micro moths that I had potted earlier today were checked out and while one of them was new for the year, a Dark Neb (Bryotropha affinis), the other micro flew off before I could grab a photo. You can't win them all!