Saturday 14th June 2025.
One of the superb views from Martin Down.
If you are about to read this, then forgive me as I took an awful load of photos today. The reason being is that not only did I get to see two very good haul of moths at both my house, but also Andy Fisher's house. Then afterwards, we made the lengthy journey to one of my favourite summer haunts, Martin Down; where there were Moths, Butterflies, Plants and Birds galore! Today's weather forecast looked good with occasional sunshine and a lot of high cloud; but it was quite warm at times with a south-westerly breeze.
The Moth boxes:
My first Portland Ribbon Wave this morning.
I was up very early again (4.30am) to check the Moth Box and again, I beat the House Sparrows from gorging on my moths. I topped up the feeder with dried Mealworms again before making a nice cup of coffee and then getting stuck into the moths. It looked rather quiet at first, but a good total of 71 moths of 32 species were recorded this morning.
Above, my first ever LITTLE GRASS-MOTH and below, one of three Bird-cherry Ermine moths.
Up to 5 ‘year-ticks’ were among the moths and pick of the bunch was my first ever LITTLE GRASS-MOTH; a species of shingle or sandy coastline. Another good moth was a Portland Ribbon Wave (virtually annual now in my garden) plus Bud Moth, Privet Tortrix and Bird-cherry Ermine.
Two more moths were added to my year list; Privet Tortrix (above) and Bud Moth (below).
The Moths present in my garden this morning included the following:
Macro moths:
- Four-spotted Footman x2
- Pale Mottled Willow x1
- Heart & Dart x2
- L-album Wainscot x4
- White Ermine x1
- Grey Dagger agg. X1
- Riband Wave x9
- Marbled Minor x1
- Dark Arches x1
- Portland Ribbon Wave x1
- Lime-speck Pug x2
- Common Pug x1
- Green Pug x1
- Garden Carpet x1
- Willow Beauty x3
- Vine’s Rustic x1
Macro moths:
- Bud Moth x2
- Cypress Tip Moth x1
- LITTLE GRASS-MOTH x1
- Ruddy Streak x5
- Brown House Moth x4
- Bee Moth x3
- Privet Totrix x1
- Blushed Knot-horn x4
- Common Plume x8
- Garden Mompha x1
- Apple Leaf Miner x1
- Green Oak Tortrix x1
- Bird-cherry Ermine x3
- White-shouldered House Moth x1
- Garden Grass-veneer x1
- Diamond-back Moth x1
Andy Fisher’s Moth Box:
My first Phoenix moth for many years.
Over at Andy’s house, his Moth Box had attracted the largest number here this year, 48 moths of 27 species. Another 5 moths were added to my year list from Andy’s haul of moths of which another ‘Lifer’ was present, a Western Thyme Knot-horn! My second ever Phoenix moth was by the back door near the Moth Box and other moths new for the year included a Yellow Shell, Uncertain and the micro moth Comfrey Ermine.
Above, my first ever WESTERN THYME KNOT-HORN was a real surprise too this morning. Below, the Uncertain.
Another two more moths were added to my year list: White-banded Grass-moth (above) and a Comfrey Ermine (below).
The Moths present here included the following:
Macro moth:
- Yellow Shell x1
- Willow Beauty x10
- Common Marbled Carpet x2
- Riband Wave x2
- Garden Carpet x3
- Double-striped Pug x1
- Green Pug x1
- Bright-line Brown-eye x1
- Brimstone Moth x1
- Treble Brown Spot x1
- Heart & Dart x3
- Uncertain x1
- Small Dusty Wave x1
- Foxglove Pug x1
- Phoenix x1
- Treble-lines x1
Micro moths:
- Diamond-back Moth x1
- Privet Tortrix x2
- White-banded Grass-moth x2
- Garden Grass-veneer x2
- Blushed Knot-horn x1
- WESTERN THYME KNOT-HORN x1
- Bee Moth x3
- Ruddy Streak x2
- Comfrey Ermine x1
- Common Plume x1
- White-shouldered House Moth x1
Martin Down, Hampshire / Wiltshire border:
Another amazing view of Martin Down looking west.
This site is famous for its large variety of insects and plants and attracts a lot of Naturalists from miles away to enjoy a great day out at this magnificent site. Having come here earlier in the year, it was now time to increase my butterfly and moth year list and also enjoy the plants that Geoff identified for us. The birds here are also important and although the Stone-curlews have left the area many years ago, it still holds a wide variety of birds and even today, it threw up a few surprises.
The Birds:
I shall kick off with the birds seen today and even as we got out of the car, we enjoyed watching up to four Red Kites soaring over the farmland on the opposite side of the road from the Car Park. A Common Whitethroat was displaying in nearby bushes and a male Yellowhammer was singing on another bush nearby. A good start to the trip here. Sadly, raptors were far and few between today with only one more Red Kite sighting and a Common Buzzard that drifted westbound. A male Kestrel put in a brief appearance by the bramble bushes.
Above, up to four Red Kites were visible from the Car Park on arrival and below, good numbers of Yellowhammers were seen.
At least three Stonechats were seen and below, this was one of the singing Tree Pipits holding territory.
Above, another male Yellowhammer in song. Below, one of the singing Tree Pipits on Martin Down.
All one could hear most of the time here were Skylarks, with so many seen and heard today along with the occasional sightings of both Yellowhammer and Corn Buntings. Up to three Stonechats were seen and both Chiffchaff and Blackcap were heard singing in various areas. Two male Tree Pipits were singing in the eastern end of Martin Down and showed very well, but we didn't expect a flock of 7 Common Crossbills flying overhead and heading west. Other species seen included at least 3 Swifts, several Swallows over the fields to the south and a few Linnets over.
Butterflies & Moths:
Above, a Marbled White and below, a Small Heath butterfly.
Above, a Large Skipper and below, a Common Blue.
Above, an Adonis Blue.
Up to 10 species of butterfly were recorded here today, but sadly, no sign of any Marsh Fritillaries despite a good search. However, what we did see included the following:
- Dark-green Fritillary
- Common Blue
- Adonis Blue
- Marbled White
- Large White
- Small White
- Small Heath
- Meadow Brown
- Brimstone
- Large Skipper
- Small Skipper
There was also a nice variety of daytime moths on show too of which, apart from the Common Heath, were all new for the year. It included the following:
- Common Heath
- Cinnabar Moth
- Forester Moth
- Five-spotted Burnet Moth
- Six-spotted Burnet Moth
- Satin Grass-moth
- Hook-tipped Grass-moth
Above, Common Heath moth and below, a Cinnabar Moth.
Above, a Hook-tipped Grass-moth and below, a Five-spotted Burnet Moth.
Above, a Forester Moth and below, the Chimney Sweeper.
The Plants:
Agrimony.
Having an expert that is into plants is always a bonus and Martin Down offers a wide variety of plants including many scarce species. We were hoping for Burnt-tip Orchids today, but they were not present where we saw them last year; but other Orchids present included Common Spotted, Pyramidal, Fragrant and the superb Greater Butterfly Orchids.
Above, a Hounds tongue plant and below, Rough Hawkbit.
Above, Dropwort and below, a Goatsbeard that has gone to seed.
Above and below, Knapweed Broomrape.
Above, my first Pyramidal Orchid of the year and below, Greater Knapweed.
Above, both Fragrant Orchid and below, Greater Butterfly Orchid were my first of the year.
Other plants on show included the strange looking Knapweed Broomrape that was growing abundantly in one area. Other notable plants Geoff identified were the following:
- Rough Hawkbit
- Dropwort
- Yellow Rattle
- Goatsbeard
- Greater Knapweed
- Horseshoe Vetch
- Tufted Vetch
- Rock Rose
- Purging Flax
- Field Scabious
- Hounds Tongue
Above, Cinnabar Moth caterpillars and below, a Common Tiger Hoverfly nectaring on a Rough Hawkbit plant.
The guys on Martin Down.
Some of the terrain on Martin Down is stunning and attracts so many insects.
Above, a Bumblebee Plumehorn.
We had spent a good five hours here enjoying the wide range of wildlife present and notching up many species that were new for the year. It was a bit of a hike around the site, but the views here are amazing with just open countryside to look at for miles. I said to Geoff that we should do a late evening visit here and maybe some Owls might be on the wing and even more raptor species perhaps?
Some of the stunning views from Martin Down.
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