Another large haul of Moths today and it is getting hotter!

 Friday 22nd May 2026.

The warm weather is most certainly on its way and with overnight temperatures in the double figures, I wasn't surprised to get another good haul of Moths early this morning. I was even up at 4.45am to hopefully catch a few Moths before they flew off as dawn arose. Pembroke Road in Old Portsmouth was fairly warm at first thing this morning, but in the afternoon, the temperatures rose considerably as it got up to around 24 degrees. Tonight, I am off to Whiteley to hopefully see the Nightjars and Woodcocks that were seen here the night before. Fingers crossed.

My Moth Box:

My first Bee Moth of the year.

Another high turn out of Moths this morning that contained more micro moth species than macro moths! Among these were two new species for the year, a Bee Moth (Aphomia sociella) and the much smaller Mallow Seed Moth (Platyedra subcineria); both species that are common to my garden for this time of year. Yesterday’s Poplar Hawk-moth still shows no sign of moving on and remained on the outside egg tray this morning.

Above, this Mallow Seed Moth was my first for the year and below, a Brown House Moth, was only my second for the year.

A Cabbage Moth was perched on the white sheet and a Small Dusty Wave (only the second for the garden this year) was perched on the nearby fence panel. Yet again, there was a large number of Cypress Tip Moths present with at least 13 counted. A Black Cloak moth was present and I even managed to get some film footage of the very small Apple Leaf Miner in one of the pots. A good total of 57 moths of 21 species were recorded today, which surpassed yesterday's total. These were the following moths seen today:

MACRO MOTHS	MICRO MOTHS
Poplar Hawk-moth x1	Brown House Moth x1
Angle Shades x2	Apple Leaf Miner x1
Freyer’s Pug x2	Mallow Seed Moth * x1
Double-striped Pug x1	Light Brown Apple Moth x9
Cabbage Moth x1	Bee Moth * x1
Small Dusty Wave x1	Ruddy Streak x6
Shuttle-shaped Dart x1	Dark Moss-moth x2
Pale Mottled Willow x2	Cypress Tip Moth x13
Vine’s Rustic x2	Black Cloak x1
Buff Ermine x1	Rusty-dot Pearl x3
	Garden Mompha x5

A Black Cloak moth (left) and a Ruddy Streak moth.

Pembroke Road, Old Portsmouth:

I managed to film the very small Apple Leaf Miner moth early this morning.

Finally, the Swifts were back over Old Portsmouth, with a pair seen several times flying high over Pembroke Road. A good count of 15 bird species were seen or heard today and that included three species of Gull and the Wren going back and forth to its nest despite work being carried out by a Painter nearby. Up to three Pied Wagtails were on the Bowling Green in the morning, but no sign of them in the afternoon as the temperature rose. 

The warm temperatures certainly brought out the Bees today, mostly Buff-tailed Bumblebees and Early Bumblebees, with many taking advantage of a flowering Palm Tree nearby and also the Echium plants in Pembroke Close. A Painted Lady butterfly was seen briefly flying around Pembroke Close but did not linger long enough for a photo.

Back in my Southsea garden, both Red Admiral and Holly Blue butterflies were seen; the latter producing at least 6 individuals dotted around the garden.