Painted Lady in my back garden.

 Tuesday 28th April 2026.

My first Painted Lady of the year seen in my garden this afternoon.

It was an overcast start to the day which lasted up until around midday and afterwards the sun came blazing out, however, there was a breezy north-easterly blowing that kept the temperatures a lot cooler than yesterday. The Moth Box was on again overnight and unfortunately, there were very few Moths to go through. However, there was one that looked interesting. To round off the day, after my second shift in Pembroke Road, I spent a good 30 minutes in my back garden enjoying a cup of tea and watching the wildlife go by.

My Moth Box:

A probable Obscure Moss-moth in my Moth Box this morning. Dark Moss-moth has not been ruled out, but Obsidentify believes it is the former.

There were just four moths of three species present this morning of which the only ‘macro’ moth was a Double-striped Pug that I had flushed and then it perched itself inside my back door! There were 2 Light Brown Apple Moths within the Box and then I found a very small micro moth. I knew it as a Bryotropha species, but what one? Obsidentify believes it to be a Obscure Moss-moth (Bryotropha similis), although it did look like the more familiar Dark Moss-moth of which I am a lot more familiar with. I did put a photo of it on the Facebook Hants Moths for confirmation, but no takers yet. Should it be an Obscure Moss-moth, then that would be a ‘Lifer’ for me and so unless I get a reply, I shall stick with the Obscure Moss-moth, but probably needs to be dissected to be absolutely sure.

Pembroke Road, Old Portsmouth:

This morning, I got up to 14 bird species at Pembroke Road and pick of the bunch was a pair of Collared Doves that flew through over the road heading south. That's twice now I have seen this species here this month, which is a record for this species. All the usual species were encountered today including the usual male Pied Wagtail on the Bowling Green. This afternoon, a Jay flew over the road to make it 15 species for the day. Are the Jays breeding nearby or perhaps in one of the Holm Oaks along the road? I was sure I heard Blackbird fledglings today, but no sighting of them yet.

My Garden:

The Painted Lady butterfly in my back garden.

Enjoying a cup of tea with my dogs in the garden, I noticed the riot of colour from the plants growing in the back of my garden. My Lilac tree is in full bloom and the Wisteria flowering over from my neighbours garden looks absolutely stunning. This in turn is attracting good numbers of insects, notably the Butterflies and Hoverflies. 

Above, Holly Blue butterflies also in my back garden.

Film footage of the Painted Lady butterfly.

Amazingly, while enjoying my tea, I saw my first Painted Lady of the year nectaring on the Lilac flowers and remained there long enough for me to grab my camera and take some lovely photos of this migratory butterfly. Holly Blues were abundant too with at least four floating about and the occasional Small White flew in several times but would not settle. 

Above and below, there were several Batman Hoverflies at the back of my garden.

Above and below, Marmalade Hoverflies also in my back garden.

Hoverflies were abundant too with mostly Batman and Marmalade Hoverflies showing very well in my back garden, taking advantage of the suntrap my garden is.

In Hampshire today:

Petersfield Lake (Heath Pond) rarely gets a mention regarding the birds there, but a Common Sandpiper and 150 Sand Martins were recorded there today. Arctic Terns made an appearance at a couple of locations including a flock of 8 off Weston Shore and 8 going past Southsea early morning.