Second Small Marbled Moth of the year.

Friday 15th August 2025.

Small Marbled moth. My second of the year of this rare immigrant moth.

A clear blue sky first thing this morning and again, not a drop of wind with temperatures around the 18 degree centigrade mark. It looks like another warm day again and it should be getting up into the mid 70’s today.

My Moth Box:

My first Common Slender moth of the year.

Back to the Moths again this morning and at 5.45am, I was up and running checking all around the Moth Box and then into the Moth Box itself. Another relatively warm evening produced 91 Moths of 44 species this morning and pick of the large bunch was my second Small Marbled moth of the year. This rare immigrant moth has been picked up all over the UK by Moth enthusiasts, but still very uncommon here on the south coast.

Currant Pug. The first for some time.

Other immigrant Moths included a Golden Twin-spot, Silver Y and 3 Rusty-dot Pearls. The Large Thorn shows no sign of moving on as it was in exactly the same spot as yesterday, but only four Garden Tigers were in my garden this morning and no Jersey Tigers this time. The only new moth for the year was the micro moth, Common Slender; a smart looking moth and quite striking in appearance and posture. A Currant Pug was my first for some time and my second Horse Chestnut Leafminer moth of the year was on the top of the Box.

Square-spot Rustic.

Other insects within my Moth Box included a Batman Hoverfly (Myathropa florea) of which I carefully potted it and released it near the garden plants. Two Harlequin Ladybirds got the same treatment.

Batman Hoverfly.

The following Moths were present this morning:

MACRO MOTHS	MICRO MOTHS
Large Thorn x1	Garden Pebble x1
Double-striped Pug x8	Hawthorn Moth x1
Currant Pug x1	Common Slender x1 *
Lime-speck Pug x4	Bramble Shoot Moth x1
Garden Carpet x2	House Moss-moth x1
Cabbage Moth x1	Dark Moss-moth x1
Square-spot Rustic x1	Barred Marble x4
Marbled Beauty x2	Elderberry Pearl x1
Brimstone Moth x3	Brown House Moth x2
Bright-line Brown-eye x2	Light Brown Apple Moth x6
Garden Tiger x4	Copper-fringed Drab x2
L-album Wainscot x4	Chevron Grass-moth x2
Heart & Dart x1	Rusty-dot Pearl x3
Setaceous Hebrew Character x1	Small Marbled x1
Shuttle-shaped Dart x7	Common Masoner x1
Common Rustic x1	Apple Leaf Miner x1
Yellow-barred Brindle x2	Ruddy Streak x2
Large Yellow Underwing x1	Box Tree Moth x1
Golden Twin-spot x1	Horse Chestnut Leafminer x1
Vine’s Rustic x2	Common Plume x2
Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing x4	White-shouldered House Moth x1
Silver Y x1
Willow Beauty x1

While checking the Moth Box, overhead, I heard the distinctive chatter of Swallows and sure enough, a small flock of three birds were seen flying very high and heading westbound. A Willowchiff called quietly at the back of the garden and I even heard a House Sparrow calling some distance away in a garden (getting uncommon around here now!).

This evening, while watering the garden, I found a couple more interesting moths that included an Angle Shades and a Single-dotted Wave to add to today's total. Overhead, a flock of 15+ Swallows flew high and headed westbound calling in doing so. They were all probably off to roost and joining them was a lone Swift.

Matt & Emma’s Moth Box:

One of two Oak Hook-tip moths this morning in their garden.

Meanwhile, over in Fareham, the guys had 7 Jersey Tigers and two Oak Hook-tips this morning and new for them today were a Wormwood Pug and a Cabbage Moth.