My second Red Underwing moth this year.

Monday 18th August 2025.

My second Red Underwing of the year in the garden.

An overcast and breezy start to the morning and if there is cloud cover, it doesn't really get light till around 5.45am now. I'm just glad I have a hot cup of coffee while I wander around the garden looking for moths. Still, apart from the noisy Herring Gulls sailing overhead, all was very quiet and then I heard a quietly singing Willow Warbler in the tall tree behind my house and I actually saw it briefly flit from branch to branch. This has to be one of our most beautiful songs from such a small bird, but sadly, it will be soon lost as it makes its way back to a far warmer climate.

My Moth Box:

One of 8 Golden Twin-spot Moths this morning!

My second Red Underwing moth for the year was found near the Moth Box early this morning and remained there until around 1pm before it disappeared. Immigrant moths this morning included another spectacular number of Golden Twin-spots with EIGHT being present this morning. Other immigrant moths included a Turnip Moth, White-point, 3 Langmaid’s Yellow Underwing, 2 Jasmine Moth and 4 Rusty-dot Pearl. It was very noticeable that the vast majority of moths this morning were macro moths.

One of the dark forms of Box Tree Moth.

The Moths recorded this morning included the following:

MACRO MOTHS	MICRO MOTHS
Red Underwing x1	Box Tree Moth x6
Golden Twin-spot x8	Rusty-dot Pearl x4
Garden Tiger x2	Jasmine Moth x2
Bright-line Brown-eye x1	Light Brown Apple Moth x2
Double-striped Pug x8	Bird-cherry Ermine x1
Yellow-barred Brindle x1
L-album Wainscot x6
Brimstone Moth x1
Turnip Moth x1
Vine’s Rustic x4
Shuttle-shaped Dart x7
Langmaid’s Yellow Underwing x3
White-point x1
Pale Mottled Willow x4
Heart & Dart x1
Garden Carpet x2
Small Dusty Wave x1
Willow Beauty x1

Matt & Emma Parkes had no new moths for their year list this morning, but Matt found a Hummingbird Hawk-moth at rest at his workplace today (see photo).

Matt took this photo of a Hummingbird Hawk-moth at his workplace today.

In Hampshire today:

This gorgeous female Kestrel was over at Hook-with-Warsash recently. Photo by Emma Parkes.

There was a fair mix of migrant birds scattered around the county and with a Willow Warbler by my garden early this morning, I wasn't surprised. Farlington Marshes hosted at least two Whinchats and small numbers of Yellow Wagtail. Over at Northney, the Pied Flycatcher was still present and several Spotted Flycatchers, but no sign of yesterday's Wryneck.

The Pied Flycatcher over at the Northney Paddocks. Photo by Rob Porter.

Blashford Lakes hosted a Yellow-legged Gull and a Greenshank was present along with two Little Ringed Plovers. The female Red-crested Pochard was back on Ivy Lake (Andy will be pleased!). Two Ospreys were still in the northern half of Portsmouth Harbour. Yesterday, birding pal Geoff Farwell was back down Farlington Marshes where he had the following sightings: Marsh Harrier, Cattle Egret, 7 Greenshank, Green Sandpiper, Whimbrel, 5 Avocets, 3 Swifts, 7 Yellow Wagtails, 4 Common Whitethroat and a single Lesser Whitethroat. He also had a Clouded Yellow butterfly there and a Hummingbird Hawk-moth in his garden. While checking out the Meteour shower last night, he also heard a Green Sandpiper flying over!