A superb variety of Moths today.

Tuesday 12th August 2025.

My first Copper Underwing moth of the year.

Today has been built up as one of the hottest days of the year and certainly of the week with temperatures at 21 degrees at 5.45am this morning! It could reach the low 90’s today! The temperature overnight did not go below 20 degrees centigrade and it certainly brought in the Moths again. Even before I retired to bed, I checked the Moth Box quickly and potted a pristine Bloxworth Snout moth and released it today.

My Moth Box:

Only my second Iron Prominent moth for my garden. Happy days indeed!

The warm weather brought in the Moths overnight with 92 moths of 36 species recorded this morning. New for the year was a Copper Underwing and an Iron Prominent; the latter was only the second record for my garden! Mind you, Copper Underwings are never annual to my garden and I carefully checked the underwing just in case it was a Svensson’s Copper Underwing. Unfortunately, the likes of Obsidentify is never always right when a photo is taken of the upper side.

Above, a Sharp-angled Peacock moth and below, one of four Golden Twin-spots.

Above, an incredible number of Jasmine Moths turned up and below, my second Marbled Yellow Pearl of the year. This is an uncommon migrant to southern UK from the Continent.

Other excellent moths included my second Sharp-anged Peacock of the year and a supporting cast of 4 Jersey Tigers and two Garden Tigers, the pristine Bloxworth Snout from last night, FOUR Golden Twin-spots and my first Yellow Shell for my garden this year. Of the micros, my second Marbled Yellow Pearl (Evergestis extimalis) for the year and an incredible SEVEN Jasmine Moths (Palpita vitrialis) was easily the highest number of this species in my garden ever. There was a pale Coleophora micro moths species present, but the only true way to get an ID is through dissection.

The Bloxworth Snout moth from last night.

The Moths present this morning included the following:

MACRO MOTHS	MICRO MOTHS
Copper Underwing x1 *	Rusty-dot Pearl x7
Iron Prominent x1 *	Hawthorn Moth x1
Jersey Tiger x4	Ruddy Streak x5
Garden Tiger x2	Light Brown Apple Moth x17
Bloxworth Snout x1	Brown House Moth x1
Dark Arches x1	Bramble Shoot Moth x1
Sharp-anged Peacock x1	Black-banded Masoner x1
Shuttle-shaped Dart x2	Jasmine Moth x7
Small Dusty Wave x4	Dark Moss-moth x1
Marbled Green x1	Blushed Knot-horn x1
Yellow-barred Brindle x1	Box Tree Moth x1
Golden Twin-spot x4	White-shouldered House Moth x1
Yellow Shell x1	Marbled Yellow Pearl x1 *
White-point x1	Common Plume x2
Vine’s Rustic x2	Coleophora sp.
Bright-line Brown-eye x1
Pale Mottled Willow x1
Double-striped Pug x9
Lime-speck Pug x4
Brimstone Moth x1
Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing x1

Matt & Emma’s Moth Box, Fareham:

This Blair's Mocha is always a joy to see.

There was a nice selection of Moths from their Moth Box this morning that included a Common Rustic, Pale Mottled Willow, Blair’s Mocha, Yellow Shell and a Setaceous Hebrew Character. The micro moth Marsh Grey was also present.

In Hampshire:

This Pied Flycatcher was over the Horse Paddocks, Northney. Photo by 'Northern John'.

Yesterday, there was a good fall of both passerine Migrants and also Terns. News came across that over the Horse Paddocks behind the Service Station at Northney, a Pied Flycatcher was seen with a few Spotted Flycatchers. Another Pied Flycatcher was reported over at Gorley Common, near Harbridge, along with 15 Spotted Flycatchers and yet another Pied Flycatcher at Bolderwood, in the New Forest. The Tern flock over at Hill Head held a pair of Black Terns and over 150 Common Terns and 10 Sandwich Terns.