Heavy rain showers this morning.

Thursday 4th September 2025.

Dark Sword-grass. I think this is my 3rd individual so far this year, though I expect many more to come over the next few months. A nice immigrant moth.

I awoke to heavy rain this morning despite the fact I had my Moth Box on overnight, but knowing that the rainguard will prevent a lot of Moths getting a good soaking or simply dispersing early this morning, I still managed to get quite a few. The heavy prolonged showers overnight continued into this morning and now I am back in Pembroke Road for today and tomorrow, I had the unfortunate pleasure of getting a couple of good soakings! At least the wind had dropped considerably, but today's forecast is heavy showers and occasional sunshine. Also, it's still quite mild too with temperatures around 16 degrees centigrade first thing this morning.

My Moth Box:

There were two Setaceous Hebrew Character moths this morning.

There were 37 moths of 17 species recorded this morning despite the horrible weather, but when I went out to check on them at 6.15am, thankfully, the heavy rain had departed, leaving behind a bright blue sky, but a very damp garden. My outside eggtrays were sodden too, but they did hold a few moths within them. Last night, I potted a Bloxworth Snout and released it this morning and among the moths present this morning, I have nominated the Dark Sword-grass as the pick of the bunch. The Golden Twin-spot, which is such a rarity to most moth enthusiasts, was a very close second, but it didn't linger long and flew off seconds after I grabbed a photo of it. Among the micros, the second brood of Narrow-winged Grey’s are coming through, with another perched on the white sheet this morning. A Box Tree Moth was hiding under the brick (I use this to keep the rainguard down) and the poor thing looked very wet. I also had to rescue three moths that were upside down on top of the rainguard, wings stuck to the water. Not an easy task either, without damaging them. Hopefully soon, there will be some more new moths on the horizon for the year with Autumn well and truly upon us.

The moths recorded this morning included the following:

MACRO MOTHS	MICRO MOTHS
Bloxworth Snout x1	Rusty-dot Pearl x4
Dark Sword-grass x1	Ruddy Streak x2
Vine’s Rustic x3	Common Plume x4
Setaceous Hebrew Character x2	Narrow-winged Grey x1
L-album Wainscot x5	Light Brown Apple Moth x3
Square-spot Rustic x1	Chevron Grass-moth x2
Large Yellow Underwing x2	Box Tree Moth x1
Lesser Yellow Underwing x2
Golden Twin-spot x1
Shuttle-shaped Dart x1

The only bird of note that flew over the garden while I was checking the Moth Box was a Greenfinch. Currently, visible migration has dried up a bit this week.

Pembroke Road, Old Portsmouth:

Lull before the storm in Pembroke Road! Twenty minutes later, the heavens opened again.

It was a damp, wet start to my return to Pembroke Road this morning and I only recorded just nine species of birds during my hour there from 8am. Of interest, was a male Sparrowhawk flying through the rain over Governor’s Green and then heading westbound towards Portsmouth Harbour. A pair of Jays showed briefly in the Holm Oaks and one was seen about ten minutes later flying over Pembroke Road. As the month progresses, I am hoping for a bit of visible migration here.

I can confirm that yesterday’s Grey Phalarope at Hayling Oysterbeds is still present this morning for its third day. Two Ospreys are still around Peewit Island, Portsmouth Harbour and over at Weston Shore, Southampton, up to 4 Arctic Terns and a Black Tern were seen this morning.