A sad loss and a few notable sightings.

 

Monday 27th July 2026.

The Red Admiral butterfly on my Garden table this afternoon.

I shall put the moth box out overnight, as I have not used it for the past two evenings. Another heatwave is on the way, and apart from a little drizzle early yesterday morning, there is no rain forecast this week to ease the parched ground here in the south. The grassy areas around Southsea and Portsmouth are yellow, and without watering my garden every other day, the plants would soon die.

Southern Europe is like a tinderbox, with large areas of Spain and southern France burning almost out of control as temperatures climb into the 40s. Even here in the UK, a large fire scorched a vast area of heathland in West Wight, apparently started by a thoughtless person’s campfire. It took five days to put out. If the culprits are found, a substantial fine and a proper jail sentence would be appropriate. Even the Cairngorms suffered a major heathland fire, though thankfully a band of rain has moved in to help quell it. But what about the damage to the wildlife these areas support? The harm can be irreparable, and the land may take years to recover. Sad, sad times.

On a very sad note, one of my childhood idols, birdwatcher Bill Oddie, passed away today aged 85. I was a huge fan of The Goodies when I was at school and even owned a few of their singles. Around the same time, I was getting into birding, and when I discovered he was also a birder, my admiration for him grew even more. I once saw him at Farlington Marshes in the late 1970s, where he apparently found a Bonaparte’s Gull, although no one else saw it. He helped launch Springwatch with Kate Humble, but sadly had to leave the programme because of mental illness. Rest in peace, Bill, and thank you for helping champion bird conservation.

Notable Sightings

The micro moth Olive-tree Pearl.

On a more positive note, there were several notable sightings today.

·    Olive-tree Pearl moth: An Olive-tree Pearl (Palpita vitrealis) was seen at nearby retirement flats in Southsea. It was only the second one I have seen this year.

·     Migrant Hawker dragonfly: This afternoon, a Migrant Hawker was quartering the gardens around my house, but it did not settle and eventually flew off east.

·      Red Admiral butterfly: I had better luck with a Red Admiral, which settled on my garden table several times.