Grim weather but plenty of Moths and Birds.

 Tuesday 19th May 2026.

This is the photo of the Marbled Minor agg. A species that is regular to my garden and can turn up in various guises.

It was a horrible wet start to the day with non-stop rain that was driven by a strong south-westerly wind. Very uncomfortable on my first shift in Pembroke Road! However, it was relatively mild with temperatures around 16 degrees and even into the afternoon, when it was a lot dryer, though windy, it still remained mild. There is talk that temperatures are going to climb significantly by the weekend. We shall see.

I still had the Moth Box on overnight and I was very reluctant at first to check it in the rain, but I did pot an interesting Moth perched on the white sheet to check after I had walked the dogs.

My Moth Box:

A single Treble-lines moth was present in the Moth Box.

Despite the poor weather this morning, there were 16 moths of 11 species of which were mostly inside the Moth Box. The Moth I had potted earlier in the day was in fact my first Marbled Minor species. Unless I dissect the Moth, for it could be one of three species, I was more than happy to add it as an ‘agg’ for my year list. The Moth species present this morning included the following:

MACRO MOTHS	MACRO MOTHS
Angle Shades x1	Light Brown Apple Moth x2
Pale Mottled Willow x1
Shuttle-shaped Dart x3
Silver Y x1
Marbled Minor agg. x1
Treble-lines x1
Heart & Dart x1
Vine’s Rustic x2
Double-striped Pug x1
Buff Ermine x1

A Silver Y moth was also within the Moth Box.

Apart from a couple of Snails taking advantage of my soggy egg trays on the outside of the Moth Box, there was also a Noble False Widow Spider settled in one of the trays!

Pembroke Road, Old Portsmouth:

As mentioned, the weather was appalling this morning with consistent rain and also a strong south-westerly wind to make life a bit more uncomfortable! However, I still managed to get up to 13 bird species seen and that included a very unexpected flock of 6 House Martins flying low west down the road. Most likely migrant birds, but leaving a bit late for breeding? Should there be a hot summer again this year, then maybe they might be OK.

The Wren was going back and forth with food to its nest opposite where I stand and I even told the owner of the house who already knew about the nesting Wren. I still have only had one sighting of Swifts over Old Portsmouth, so where are they? Have numbers really dropped that low or are they still making their way to the UK? There was no sign of the Pied Wagtails on the Bowling Green today and I can only think that the weather must have put them off? The first species noted this morning here was a Great Black-backed Gull flying high south over the road; a species that is not seen here a lot of the time. There were good numbers of Herring Gulls easily negotiating the strong winds overhead and several Black-headed Gulls also put in an appearance. I was 99% sure a Mediterranean Gull flew over, but I was busy at the time and did not got a good look at it before it flew off behind the Holm Oaks.

In Hampshire today:

Not a great deal reported today in the grim weather, but a flock of 50 Swifts over Fishlake Meadows late afternoon was notable and earlier today, there were 2 Cattle Egrets perched on the posts at the same site. A Spotted Flycatcher was reported at Northney Paddocks today. Here, at my house in Southsea, I can clearly hear the Swifts outside my house as two of the Swift Nestboxes have been occupied now for the past few weeks.