Few moths, but a couple of 'Year-ticks'.

Saturday 23rd August 2025.

Dawn over our Cottage.

After getting up at around 4am and simply could not fall back to sleep, I decided to get up and dressed and put the dogs in the garden briefly and then made myself a coffee. It was obviously still dark outside, but a Little Owl was calling close to our Cottage, but no chance of a sighting. My Moth Box was up and running, but all I could see were Grass-moths by the Box, so I waited till around 5.45am to venture out to see if anything of note was around.

My Moth Box:

Common Wave. My first of the year.

It looked as though it was going to be a lovely day again, with plenty of blue sky as the sun rose behind the Cottage. A thin film of mist was over the field behind the trees (I could just see through the gap in the trees. Sadly, there were only 19 moths of 9 species this morning, which was probably due to it being quite cold and clear overnight. However, two of those species were new for the year that included a Common Wave * and the micro moth, Garden Rose Tortrix *. I knew there were going to be a lot of Grass-moths and most likely, there were probably more around, though finding any moth against the outside wall of the Cottage was a bit of a challenge! A little while later in the morning, I found a Green Carpet moth perched by the front door to add to the small collection today. 

Left, my first Garden Rose Tortrix of the year and right, one of ten Common Grass-moths.

The Moths recorded this morning included the following:

MACRO MOTHS	MICRO MOTHS
Large Yellow Underwing x1	Common Grass-moth x10
Light Emerald x1	Garden Rose Tortrix x1 *
Brimstone Moth x2	Rusty-dot Pearl x1
Common Wave x1 *
Setaceous Hebrew Character x1
Green Carpet x1

As dawn arose, the birds started coming out and overhead, I could hear the ‘buzzing’ calls of House Martins as a flock of four birds flew high over and eventually joined by a few Swallows. In the trees, a pair of Goldcrests were hunting for insects and a male Chaffinch flew in briefly. I shall take the dogs for a good walk after I have written up this entry to my blog; so more sightings to follow, hopefully.

A misty start to the morning over some of the countryside here.

Our first ‘port of call’ today was to visit a Supermarket in Barnstaple where we had a nice breakfast and got most of the shopping done. Within the Car Park, I pointed out to Becky a pair of Goldcrests flitting about in the Ornamental trees right by the car itself. Just a shame I never had my camera on me. a few Common Buzzards were seen on the way there, with one bird seen balancing on an overhead wire near the roadside.

Above, the first Blackbird I have seen here was by the big field. Below, a male Chaffinch flew in and landed in next door's garden.

Above, later in the morning, I found this Green Carpet moth perched by the front door and below, the Red Admiral butterfly on the Buddleia in the garden.

We chilled out for the rest of the day in both the garden and out in the nearby field where we walked the dogs again. From the garden, there were a few butterflies flying around the garden and taking advantage of the last few Buddleia flowers from a large tree by the side of the garden. However, it looks as though they have not had hardly any rain here recently and the garden was looking very dry and the leaves on the Buddleia were wilting badly. However, it did attract a Red Admiral and Small Copper butterflies and a few Small White’s passed through the garden.

Above and below, a Small Copper butterfly was a welcome visitor to the garden.

Above, another Common Grass-moth taking refuge after my dogs disturbed it. Below, the Boys!

Enjoying a mug of coffee before we took a walk around the nearby field, there were a few birds noted in the trees and overhead that included a Coal Tit, Chiffchaff and a couple of Linnets. The latter flew high over the Cottage along with a couple of Goldfinches. It was fairly quiet within the field, though the dogs enjoyed themselves, being free to run around without their harnesses on and flushing loads of Common Grass-moths in doing so!

Matt & Emma took this photo this morning of a juvenile (left) and adult White-tailed Eagle at Amberley Brooks, West Sussex, this morning.

And so our week's holiday begins.

Friday 22nd August 2025.

The Cider Barn Cottage we are staying in for the week near High Bickington, Devon.

At last, Becky, myself and the dogs are on holiday again and it's back down into Devon again. We had booked a cracking little Cottage just outside the village of High Bickington, which is just 20 minutes away from Barnstaple and set right in the heart of the countryside. We are spending the week here, while my stepson and his mates look after our house while we are away.

Above, Ted and Buddy have a whole field to run around in and below, Foxgloves were growing in the hedgerows.

Above, the big field for the dogs to play in. Yep, someone is occupying the shack to the right of this photo. Our Cottage is behind these trees. Below, numerous Common Grass-moths were flushed from the tall grass.

We are determined to have a very relaxing time and I have even brought my Moth Box (well, Andy’s actually) and ready for some ‘mothy goodness’ hopefully. I gave the dogs a good walk around the field opposite and a Yellowhammer was flushed up from the centre of the field. The perimeter of the field has been mown and so a nice walk for both the dogs and myself as I flushed a lot of Grass moths. On closer inspection, they were mostly Common Grass-moths, while overhead, a few Swallows went by and a larger flock flew over the fields to the north. The owner of the property told me that a Barn Owl was quartering the fields in the evenings and so I shall take the dogs out for a walk as it nears dusk.

We stopped off at our favourite Farm Shop just west of Chideock for a quick bite to eat.

There were plenty of Common Buzzards seen on our near 4 hour journey here (typical Bank Holiday traffic) and singles of both Sparrowhawk and Raven were also seen. Hopefully, some good Moths over the coming mornings and maybe some interesting birds too. 

Dark-bordered Pearl moth on board my year list.

Friday 22nd August 2025.

My first Dark-bordered Pearl moth of the year.

Another cool start here in Southsea, but no wind this morning as I got about checking the Moth Box again. Temperatures were hovering around 15 degrees, though it will get warmer as the day progresses. The only bird of note that flew over early this morning was a Greenfinch that headed off northbound high over the houses.

My Moth Box:

Portland Ribbon Wave. This was my 3rd sighting of one this year, with two in my garden and one in Andy Fisher's garden.

Not quite a hundred species of moths this morning, but 91 moths of 38 species is still a good total. There were some interesting moths around this morning, notably my first Dark-bordered Pearl (Evergestis limbata)* of the year and another Portland Ribbon Wave was also special. Other immigrant moths included a Turnip Moth, White-point, 3 Golden Twin-spots and a Langmaid’s Yellow Underwing. Six Rusty-dot Pearls were the only immigrant micro moths today.

The Moths recorded this morning included the following:

MACRO MOTHS	MICRO MOTHS
Small Dusty Wave x3	Dark-bordered Pearl x1 *
Garden Carpet x3	Bird-cherry Ermine x1
Dark Spectacle x1	Rusty-dot Pearl x6
Yellow-barred Brindle x2	Ruddy Streak x4
Garden Tiger x2	Dark Moss-moth x4
Vine’s Rustic x8	House Moss-moth x3
Heart & Dart x1	Box Tree Moth x5
Common Rustic x1	Light Brown Apple Moth x1
Square-spot Rustic x2	Beautiful Plume x1
Pale Mottled Willow x3	Apple Leaf Miner x1
Setaceous Hebrew Character x3	Common Plume x4
L-album Wainscot x4	Chevron Grass-moth x1
Turnip Moth x1	Garden Pebble x1
Bright-line Brown-eye x1	White-shouldered House Moth x1
Double-striped Pug x3
Lime-speck Pug x3
Shuttle-shaped Dart x2
Portland Ribbon Wave x1
White-point x3
Large Yellow Underwing x1
Canary-shouldered Thorn x1
Golden Twin-spot x3
Willow Beauty x3
Langmaid’s Yellow Underwing x1

Taking Margot out for a pleasant walk.

Thursday 21st August 2025.

There were plenty of footpaths to walk Margot though I did find a path through the scrub, but a lot of vegetation had stuck to her fur and so we turned back and got onto the proper paths. 

I was on ‘looking after my daughter's dog duty’ this morning as I had to go up to Bedhampton and take Margot for a walk. Earlier this year, I took her out a few times around the estate and south of the Forty Acres estate is an area of scrubland that holds a few trees, horse paddocks to the west and the railway line to the south. Most of the scrub here are wild flowers that included Perennial Sow-thistle, Creeping Thistle, Scentless Mayweed, Mouse-ear Hawkweed, Common Ragwort, Narrow-leaved Ragwort, Great Willowherb, Tufted Vetch and lots of Fleabane. 

Above, Perennial Sow-thistle and below, Narrow-leaved Ragwort.

Above, Great Willowherb and below, Fleabane.

There were other flowers about and the list would go on and on, but though ugly and unsightly to some, just think of all the insects inhabiting this area. There were plenty of butterflies around that included Common Blue’s, both Small and Large White’s, Gatekeepers, Small Heath and Meadow Browns and even a Peacock dashed over the vegetation but did not settle. I was hoping for a Clouded Yellow or two, but I could not find one even though there were quite a few sighted on Farlington Marshes this morning.

Above, a Large White butterfly and below, a Small Heath.

Above, one of many Common Blue's here in the scrub. This one was a female. Below, a Small White, which were also abundant.

Most of the large ponds and creeks created here were all dried out and some were full of weeds anyway, but as I walked for the first time here, eastbound, I came across a large pond that held quite a lot of water and of course, this attracted the Dragonflies. Several Common Darters were seen and even a large menacing Emperor Dragonfly was seen going up and down the Pond. Sadly, there were no Damselflies seen which was somewhat surprising, but the lack of water in the area probably was the reason for that.

Above, several Common Darters were seen today, including this male that landed on the footpath near the Pond. Below, I was stunned to see a small flock of Red-legged Partridges here in the scrubby area.

I found this bit of water by a drain (above) which led to this Pond that held a lot of water. In fact, with all the Ponds created here, it was the only Pond that held any water! I do wonder what the future holds if our summers are void of any long periods of rain. We already had a Hose Pipe ban in Hampshire this year, though probably those useless idiots that run Southern Water had a lot to do with that. Just dont get me started on that waste of space. Fume!

Above and below, this Common Buzzard sailed gracefully over the area.

Above, a Honey Bee nectaring on Creeping Thistle flower and below, the scrubby area looking north towards the new Housing Estate.

The birdlife here was somewhat lacking, but I did find a small flock of Red-legged Partridges running along by one of the dried out Ponds. Overhead, a pair of Common Buzzards sailed low overhead and other sightings included a Swallow passing by and a Chiffchaff singing deep within vegetation by the railway line. With the paddocks and a few good areas of bramble, this place certainly has potential for something unusual if it is watched constantly. I did give the area a thorough search and discover for the first time the east side of the area, again the potential here is good, especially with all the neighbouring trees and brambles. Surely, a Wryneck or a Shrike could be lurking about here over the coming weeks?

In Hampshire today:

Farlington Marshes held the two juvenile Ruffs this morning, both seen on the Stream area and a juvenile Little Stint was found on the Lake in the afternoon at the same site. Several Ospreys were noted on the south coast here that included two in Portsmouth Harbour and other sites including Fawley and Fishlake Meadows. The Northney Paddocks held at least one Pied Flycatchers and several Spotted Flycatchers and further north in the county, a Wood Sandpiper was with three Green Sandpipers on Alresford Pond.

This Lesser Whitethroat was filmed at Farlington Marshes by James Cutting.

100+ Moths again!

Thursday 21st August 2025.

Dusky Thorn.

To be honest, it was arguably the coldest morning of the week for at the end of checking the Moths by the Moth Box, my hands were freezing! My mobile phone said it was only 12 degrees as a cold northerly wind blew around the garden and with a bit of hazy cloud overhead, hopefully it will get warmer.

Unfortunately, no visible migration going on overhead again this morning while checking the Moth Box, just the continuous begging calls of a juvenile Herring Gull by its parent on a nearby rooftop!

My Moth Box:

One of four Langmaid's Yellow Underwings today.

Another hundred plus moths present this morning, of which I was honestly surprised about seeing that the cold wind and hardly anything on the white sheet was to go by. In fact, a total of 115 moths of 35 species were recorded much to my surprise. Sadly, not a single new moth for the year, but plenty of immigrant moths to look at including Pale Mottled Willow, Langmaid’s Yellow Underwing, White-point, Turnip Moth, Rush Veneer, Rusty-dot Pearls and a single Jasmine Moth. 

Above, a Setaceous Hebrew Character and below, a White-point.

A Dusky Thorn is always a lovely moth to see and four Gold Triangle moths added a splash of colour. I thought one of my Garden Tiger moths had succumbed to a spider, but I double-checked it later in the morning and found it had been trapped by a load of spider web attached to it. So, ‘for my good deed for the day’, I carefully picked it up and removed a big ball of web stuck to the poor moth and then released it onto some nearby plants.

Gold Triangle. One of four today.

The Moths recorded this morning included the following:

MACRO MOTHS	MICRO MOTHS
Yellow-barred Brindle x4	Rush Veneer x1
Pale Mottled Willow x8	Light Brown Apple Moth x1
Riband Wave x1	Gold Triangle x4
Double-striped Pug x11	Common Plume x4
Lime-speck Pug x2	Rusty-dot Pearl x8
Vine’s Rustic x6	White-shouldered House Moth x2
Bright-line Brown-eye x3	Common Masoner x1
Shuttle-shaped Dart x11	Garden Pebble x1
Heart & Dart x1	Box Tree Moth x9
Large Yellow Underwing x1	Ruddy Streak x1
Langmaid’s Yellow Underwing x4	House Moss-moth x2
Setaceous Hebrew Character x2	Jasmine Moth x1
White-point x4
L-album Wainscot x5
Garden Carpet x5
Small Dusty Wave x2
Dusky Thorn x1
Cabbage Moth x1
Turnip Moth x1
Buff Ermine x1
White Ermine x2
Garden Tiger x3
Willow Beauty x2

Matt & Emma’s Moth Box, Fareham:

Another Poplar Hawk-moth was in their trap this morning.

Again, rather quiet with no new moths reported there this morning, but they did have another Poplar Hawk-moth to their trap today. I have not had one here this year so far!