My second ever Bird's Wing moth found this afternoon.

Thursday 3rd July 2025.

This for me is up there with some of the rarer moths I have seen. Only the second Bird's Wing moth I have ever seen and the last was also in my garden.

A much cooler morning today and to be honest, by the time I had finished checking my Moth Box, I was actually cold! Thankfully, a hot coffee perked me up a bit. Another 100+ haul of Moths this morning to go through and a few nice moths among them too. Sadly, Emma & Matt did not have their Moth Box on last night, though I advised them to give it a rest for a few nights as the Wasps were devouring too many of their Moths. Hopefully, this might deter the buggers! Pembroke Road was nice in the early morning sun, but a bit chilly in the shade at 8am first thing. 

My Moth Box:

A Least Carpet was the only new moth for the year to be found this morning among the many present.

There was a good total of 111 Moths of 46 species today, including two more species I found this afternoon, much less than yesterday and probably due to the cooler conditions overnight. It seems the whole of the UK for those into Moths experienced huge numbers of Moths within their traps. Despite having over 100 species in and around the Moth Box, there was only one new species for my year list this morning, a Least Carpet, which is almost annual to my Moth Box. Other notable moths included my second Sycamore for the year and also a Dark Spectacle was a good month ‘tick’. Another Elephant Hawk-moth was present again and I safely put the Moth in one of my plants. After having breakfast, I noticed a Silver Y nectaring on the Lavender plants at the back of the garden (see film footage below).

Above, a Silver Y moth nectaring on Lavender in my back garden.

Above, my second Sycamore moth of the year and below, a Knot Grass still present this afternoon.

Later in the afternoon, I was chilling in the back garden with my camera to hand, taking photos of the butterflies and bees around the Lavender, when I thought I would take some photos of the Moths still present from this morning and that's when I came across only my second ever Bird’s Wing moth! Absolutely stunned, it stayed for me to grab some decent photos of this unusual looking macro moth.

The Moths recorded in and around my Moth Box this morning included the following:

Macro Moths:                                                  Micro moths:

Dun-bar x1                                   White-shouldered House Moth x1

Sycamore  x1                                                    Elderberry Pearl x1 

Willow Beauty x7                                             Garden Grey x3  

Riband Wave x11                                             Netted Tortrix x1    

Single-dotted Wave x1                           Light Brown Apple Moth x1                                   

Common Footman x3                                      Fulvous Pearl x1

Nut-tree Tussock x1                                         Bird-cherry Ermine x14

Dark Spectacle x1                                            Large Pale Masoner x2

Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing x2     

Common Emerald x1                                       Privet Tortrix x1

Grey / Dark Dagger x1                                Garden Grass-veneer x2  

Knot Grass x1                                                   Diamond-back Moth x1

Least Carpet x1 *                                              Box Tree Moth x2

Uncertain x1                                                     Black-banded Masoner x2

Common Pug x2                                               Bee Moth x1

Double-striped Pug x5                                      Rusty-dot Pearl x3

Lime-speck Pug x2

L-album Wainscot x2

Dark Arches x1

Common Rustic agg. X1

Heart & Dart x2

Elephant Hawk-moth x1

Silver Y x2

Lackey x5

Garden Carpet x1

White Ermine x1

Bright-line Brown-eye x3

Pale Mottled Willow x1

Bird’s Wing x1 *

Pembroke Road, Old Portsmouth:

Some of the vegetation in nearby Pembroke Close. 

On the way there, I was driving along the Clarence Esplanade and saw a pair of Cormorants heading west low over the sea and nearly followed them all the way up to Governor’s Green! Fairly quiet this morning in Pembroke Road with only 11 bird species seen or heard this morning. I think the Wren was the most vocal, though I never got to see the bird. Blackbirds on both the Bowling Green and Governor’s Green were seen but no sign of any Pied Wagtails so far this week. I believe it's going to be a bit warmer this afternoon, so plenty of sun cream again!

It seems to be a very good summer for Small White butterflies that included this individual (above) in my garden. Below, Buff-tailed Bumblebees were abundant in my garden this afternoon.

Both Mediterranean Gull and Goldfinch were added to my daily total here in the afternoon at Pembroke Road and yet again, it was warm again, up to 22 degrees centigrade with a light south-westerly wind. There were plenty of butterflies around again with both Large and Small Whites fluttering over the flower beds and a Peacock butterfly showed briefly. Over on the other side of the road, I am pretty sure that some Hairstreak butterflies (either Purple or White-letter) were seen flying around at the top of the Holm Oaks nearby. I shall have to bring my binoculars to see if I can get a proper look at them later on.

Above, another Buff-tailed Bumblebee nectaring on the Lavender. Below, I found this Bee Moth near the Moth Box this afternoon.

As documented earlier this week, waders are making their return passage and the place to be would be Pennington Marshes. A Lesser Yellowlegs is back there again on the Fishtail Lagoon, along with 3 Greenshank, 2 Common Sandpipers and a Little Ringed Plover. In my garden this afternoon, five species of butterfly were seen including Small and Large White, Red Admiral, Comma and a Holly Blue.