Largest haul of moths for the year so far!

Wednesday 20th August 2025.

My first Gem moth of the year. A good immigrant moth from the Continent.

As we reach the last third of the month, the moths are still pouring in and the migrant birds are doing the same. This morning, I had the largest haul of moths for the year, a staggering 145 moths of 42 species; though to put this in perspective, I have had over 200+ in previous years, so it's nowhere near my record count, but damn good anyway. 

It was blowy in the garden first thing this morning, but it didn't really get light till after 6am due to the overcast conditions and I am glad I had my fleece on as temperatures were only around 14 degrees.

My Moth Box:

My first Chinese Character moth for the year.

My highest recorded number of moths this year produced two more species that were new for the year that included a Gem and a Chinese Character; both species that are normally annual to my garden, but normally just singles. Monday’s or another Red Underwing was present again this morning, though proved very difficult to get a decent photo due to the fact it was behind the Box my Moth Box was sitting on and despite every effort to see if it would play ball for a photo, it decided to go to the back of the fence it was sitting on. Bugger!

Above, the difficult to photograph Red Underwing moth and below, a much more obliging was this Dark Spectacle moth.

Immigrant moths this morning included the Gem, Langmaid’s Yellow Underwing, probable most of the Pale Mottled Willows, White-point, TEN Golden Twin-spots, Silver Y, FIVE Jasmine Moth and 4 Rusty-dot Pearls.

One of two Tree-lichen Beauties this morning.

Sadly, no migrant birds over the garden this morning while I was checking the Moth Box.

The moths recorded this morning included the following:

MACRO MOTHS	MICRO MOTHS
Gem x1 *	Apple Leaf Miner x1
Dark Spectacle x1	House Moss-moth x1
Red Underwing x1	Dark Moss-moth x1
Pale Mottled Willow x12	Ruddy Streak x4
Langmaid’s Yellow Underwing x1	Gold Triangle x3
Shuttle-shaped Dart x12	Jasmine Moth x5
Light Emerald x1	Box Tree Moth x9
Bright-line Brown-eye x2	Dark Strawberry Tortrix x1
Large Yellow Underwing x2	Rusty-dot Pearl x3
Willow Beauty x2	Light Brown Apple Moth x5
Vine’s Rustic x8	Brown House Moth x2
L-album Wainscot x8	Black-banded Masoner x1
Setaceous Hebrew Character x1	Barred Marble x1
Small Dusty Wave x2	Holly Tortrix x1
Garden Carpet x1	Bird-cherry Ermine x2
White Ermine x1	Common Masoner x1
White-point x4	Common Plume x1
Brimstone Moth x1	Cherrybark Tortrix x1
Heart & Dart x3
Golden Twin-spot x10
Silver Y x1
Chinese Character x1 *
Double-striped Pug x9
Tree-lichen Beauty x2
Dusky Thorn x1
Yellow-barred Brindle x6
Garden Tiger x2
Marbled Beauty x2
Lime-speck Pug x3

Matt & Emma’s Moth Box, Fareham:

One of five Box Tree Moths in Matt & Emma's garden today.

There was nothing new for the guys this morning by their Moth Box, but they did record the following moths: 2 Poplar Hawk-moths, 5 Box Tree Moths, 3 Dusky Thorn, 2 Large Yellow Underwing, 5 Vine’s Rustic, Light Emerald, Garden Mompha and 3 Hornets.

In Hampshire today:

The two juvenile Little Stints on Pennington Marshes today. Photo by Andy Tew.

Farlington Marshes hosted the two juvenile Ruffs on the Stream area and up to 6 Little Ringed Plovers were on the Deeps area. Eight Yellow Wagtails were present this morning on the reserve and at least 5 Wheatears. Two Spoonbills flew high over the reserve and over in Portsmouth Harbour, at least one Osprey was still present. There were two juvenile Little Stints on Pennington Marshes still and a Curlew Sandpiper was reported there via Birdguides. 

The Cherrybark Tortrix moth this afternoon.

A lot of moths were fluttering about my garden this afternoon while I did a bit of tidying up and I was pretty sure a Yellow Shell was seen flying away from me and then landed out of view in the back garden. However, I had more luck when I potted a small micro that turned out to be a Cherrybark Tortrix.

Yet another 'micro Moth 'Lifer'.

Tuesday 19th August 2025.

A beautiful start to the morning.

There was a gorgeous sunrise this morning as the sky glowed orange through and above the trees over Southsea. An north-easterly was blowing over the garden and a bit breezy at times, but pleasant enough to check my Moth Box and any possibly good moths that might be present this morning. Thankfully, though the white sheet looked near empty, there were actually a good haul of Moths today. Though there were no Willow Warblers or Chiffchaffs heard or seen in the back garden, a calling Yellow Wagtail flew high over heading south-west. My first of the Autumn here over the garden.

My Moth Box:

This NORWAY MAPLE LEAFMINER was added to my Moth Life List.

The fine run of ‘Lifer’ moths continued this morning when actually I was putting all my trays back in the Moth Box. I discovered a very tiny moth sitting on one of the egg trays and on closer inspection, I thought that I had not seen one of these before. A quick check on Obsidentify and it came back as a NORWAY MAPLE LEAFMINER (Phyllonorycter joannisi)! They are apparently widespread around Southern England, but a major ‘first’ for my garden and my Moth Life List. 

Two more moths were added to my year total with (above) a Flounced Rustic and below, a Common Grass-veneer.

Two more Moths were new for the year that included the macro moth, Flounced Rustic, which is annual to my garden and also the micro moth, Common Grass-veneer (Agriphila tristella), which is also annual to my garden and in some numbers over the years. A good count of 95 moths of 36 species were recorded and immigrant moths this morning included 3 Langmaid’s Yellow Underwings, 2 White-point, 4 Golden Twin-spot, Silver Y, 2 Jasmine Moth and 9 Rusty-dot Pearl.

The Moths recorded this morning included the following:

MACRO MOTHS	MICRO MOTHS
Flounced Rustic x1 *	NORWAY MAPLE LEAFMINER x1
Double-striped Pug x8	Box Tree Moth x5
Yellow-barred Brindle x4	Ruddy Streak x3
Small Dusty Wave x1	Black-banded Masoner x1
Vine’s Rustic x5	Rusty-dot Pearl x9
Langmaid’s Yellow Underwing x3	White-shouldered House Moth x1
Cabbage Moth x1	Dark Moss-moth x3
Shuttle-shaped Dart x4	Common Grass-veneer x1 *
Marbled Beauty x3	Light Brown Apple Moth x1
Pale Mottled Willow x10	Barred Marble x1
White-point x2	Jasmine Moth x2
Setaceous Hebrew Character x2	Common Plume x1
L-album Wainscot x4	Beautiful Plume x1
Bright-line Brown-eye x3	Garden Pebble x1
Golden Twin-spot x4	Rush Veneer x1
Silver Y x1	Bud Moth x1
Light Emerald x1
Garden Tiger x3
Heart & Dart x1
Garden Carpet x1

There were a few insects in and around the Moth Box this morning that included a Cinnemon Sedge Caddis Fly and a few Lacewings. Of course, there are always plenty of Spiders around and a few Green-fanged Tubeweb Spiders had their legs out of the hiding holes!

In Hampshire today:

There were some notable sightings in Hampshire of which if I wasn't too busy doing housework, I could have gone down Farlington Marshes on my day off and ‘year-ticked’ the two Ruff that were on the Lake this morning. Hurrumph!! Maybe afterwards, a trip over to the Northney Paddocks where at least FIVE Pied Flycatchers were seen along with 5 Spotted Flycatchers, 2 Redstarts and a Whinchat. Or maybe over to Workman’s Lane, Hook-with-Warsash where a Wryneck was seen ‘anting’. That's the third bird in as many days that has been seen in Hampshire, which begs the question, how many more are out there? A Glossy Ibis was still there as well.

An Osprey over Fishlake Meadows today. Photo by Andy Tew.

Over at Pennington Marshes, the pools over there are drying out fast, but two Little Stints were present today to make the most of the disappearing water. Three Ospreys were seen in Portsmouth Harbour and another over Titchfield Haven and one at Fishlake Meadows.

Another photo of the Fishlake Osprey.

This afternoon, I quickly checked my Moth Box after a brief shower and flushed a few Moths from this morning. However, I found a few more I missed this morning that included a Garden Pebble, Bud Moth and the immigrant moth, Rush Veneer.

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!