Heavy rain showers here in Southsea, but the Moths still arrive.

 Tuesday 2nd June 2026.

One of three L-album Wainscot moths this morning. My first of the year.

There was heavy rain overnight (woke me up a few times!), but no thunder that was predicted by the weather forecasters. I was very lucky that a break in the rain was just about time to check my Moth Box at 5.30am this morning, but only just as another large batch of rain came in. With so many migrant moths coming through, I thought I would take a gamble and try my luck again and it paid off with a few migrant moths and another ‘macro’ moth to add to my year list.

The weather started off fairly OK when I got to Pembroke Road, but the heavens opened from around 8.20am onwards and a good soaking was had arriving at the school including my good self! Haroo! However, I still managed to notch up 14 species of birds during that wet hour.

The wind was from the west again and it was fairly mild too, ranging from about 15 degrees centigrade. More showers are predicted this afternoon, however and so my wet weather gear will be put on after it has dried out this morning!

My Moth Box:

My first Rufous Tortrix of the year.

The race for the highest moth total for the day goes on and on with a whopping 61 moths of 31 species this morning, despite the poor weather. Migrant Moths included another Small Mottled Willow (easily the highest total of this species I have seen in one year), Silver Y, Diamondback Moth and Rusty-dot Pearl. Moths that were new for the year included up to 3 L-album Wainscot and the micro moth, Rufous Tortrix (Clepsis consimilana).

Above, yet another Small Mottled Willow was present this morning and below, the first Common Plume for June.

My first Common Marbled Carpet for the year in my garden was in one of the egg trays and a good total of both Dark Arches and Heart & Darts this morning. A Treble Brown Spot was my second for the year. Sadly, no other insects, bar a small Ladybird, were in the Moth Box today. The Moths present this morning included the following:

MACRO MOTHS	MICRO MOTHS
Garden Carpet x1	Rufous Tortrix * x1
Willow Beauty x3	Box Tree Moth x2
Riband Wave x1	Rusty-dot Pearl x4
Green Pug x2	Apple Leaf Miner x2
Common Pug x1	Beautiful Plume x1
Pale Mottled Willow x3	Common Plume x1
Small Mottled Willow x	Diamondback Moth x1
White Ermine x4	Bramble Shoot Moth x1
Brimstone Moth x1	Large Pale Masoner x1
Vine’s Rustic x1
Common Marbled Carpet x1
Shuttle-shaped Dart x3
Yellow-barred Brindle x1
L-album Wainscot * x3
Heart & Dart x6
Large Yellow Underwing x1
Treble-lines x4
Marbled Minor agg x2
Dark Arches x6
Silver Y x1
Treble Brown Spot x1

Pembroke Road, Old Portsmouth:

Some of the flowering plants that are attracting the insects in Pembroke Road, Old Portsmouth, currently.

As mentioned, the weather turned poor this morning as heavy rain fell for around 15 minutes, soaking all those poor parents and kids on their way to school. Despite the rain, a Cormorant flew over as I notched up 14 bird species in all and that included a pair of Pied Wagtails on the Bowling Green and a pair of Blue Tits going to and fro to their nest hole in one of the nearby trees. More rain is to follow later today it seems from around 4pm onwards. Hopefully, I will miss it?!