The highest Moth total for the year so far.

 Tuesday 23rd June 2026.

My first Brown-tail moth for the year.

It is creeping up to the mid-80 degrees fahrenheit today though there is a good south-easterly breeze blowing over Southsea this morning. It was quite sticky overnight and thankfully, we never got the huge thunderstorm that the likes of London and Kent got overnight. Phew! I shall be watering the garden again tonight, making sure all those plants we bought earlier this year are well hydrated.

Above, the Marbled Beauty was another new moth for the year and below, my second Clouded Silver for the year.

The warm overnight temperature produced my highest total of Moths for the year this morning and as expected, some excellent Moths among them. At least nearly 30% of the Moths were Riband Waves! My first and only shift at Pembroke Road this morning produced a reasonable total of bird species and there were a few butterflies on the wing too.

My Moth Box:

Only my second ever Mottled Rustic moth and a first for my garden.

Easily my highest total of Moths for the year so far with a staggering 114 Moths of 45 species of which 34 of these were Riband Waves! I do know they sometimes explode in numbers, but I cannot recall getting this many in one morning and probably a few more dotted around the garden too!

Above, the Barred Yellowneck micro moth and below, the Copper-fringed Drab. Both were new for the year.

Among the many Moths, a superb Brown-tail moth was perched on the Box and my first Marbled Beauty was present, also on the side of the Box. Micro moth new for the year included a Barred Yellowneck (Oegoconia deauratella) and a Copper-fringed Drab (Swammerdamia pyrella); both regular moths in the summer here and other most notable Moths included a Clouded Silver (second one for the year after seeing one in Devon last month), only my second ever Mottled Rustic (again, after the one in Devon), my third Clay of the year. Two Coleophora micro moths species which would need dissecting to ascertain their ID. Only my second ever Small Fruit Moth (Aspila lobarzewskii) was also present, sitting on top of the Box after one earlier this month. The Moths recorded this morning were as follows:

MACRO MOTHS	MICRO MOTHS
Brown-tail * x1	Box Tree Moth x2
Clouded Silver x1	Dark Moss-moth x1
White Ermine x4	Diamondback Moth x1
Willow Beauty x3	Grey Knot-horn x2
Clancy’s Rustic x1	Common Masoner x1
Mottled Rustic x1	Coleophora species x2
Clay x1	Blushed Knot-horn x4
Common Emerald x2	Barred Yellowneck * x1
Heart & Dart x3	Garden Grass-veneer x3
Dark Arches x5	Bird-cherry Ermine x1
Large Yellow Underwing x4	Bud Moth x2
L-album Wainscot x2	Elderberry Pearl x1
Marbled Beauty * x1	Hawthorn Moth x1
Bloxworth Snout x1	Rusty-dot Pearl x3
Riband Wave x34	Gold Triangle x1
Lackey x1	Common Plume x1
Double-striped Pug x6	Garden Mompha x1
Lime-speck Pug x1	Bee Moth x1
Marbled Minor agg. x1	Light Brown Apple Moth x1
Bright-line Brown-eye x1	Brown House Moth x1
	Ruddy Streak x2
	Golden-brown Tubic x1
	Small Fruit Moth x1
	Copper-fringed Drab * x1

At least 10 Lacewing were inside the Moth Box along with one Harlequin Ladybird and two Hoverflies, the Many-tufted Boxer (Playcheirus scutatus) and a Common Globetail (Sphaerophoria scripta).

Pembroke Road, Old Portsmouth:

A breezy bright start to the day at Pembroke Road.

After yesterday's White-letted Hairstreak sightings, I decided to just stay put where I work in Pembroke Road and observe the butterflies passing through within the blustery conditions between 8 and 9am this morning. This involved a Red Admiral and a single Painted Lady passing through and one smaller butterfly which had me puzzled, but it was seen distantly from me and could quite possibly be a Small Heath?

Up to 13 bird species were seen this morning and that included a Jay that put in a brief appearance within the Holm Oak trees. The Swifts were abundant this morning. It is so good to see them back here in Old Portsmouth after a long wait for them to show and now we have this heatwave, I am sure they are going to be here all week. A lot of the species were all the usual birds, but nothing really unusual today. I have been keeping an eye out for that White-tailed Eagle after one of the fellow ‘Lazee Birders’ had one flying over Southsea last Sunday!