A smart Pine Hawk-moth to start July.

 Wednesday 1st July 2026.

This stunning Pine Hawk-moth was my first of the year.

Now we enter the second half of the year and July promises to be another warm month, but will it be as hot as June? Last month broke all heat records in the UK and with a possible heatwave next week forecast, it could well be. My highest species total for the year was recorded in June with a whopping 135 species recorded and included some rarities and ‘Lifers’ and hopefully, this month will reflect that total or possibly more?

July started off with two more Moths that were new for the year and another pleasantly warm day. Pembroke Road had all the usual birds present and was always good to get into double figures regarding the species count. My garden got in on the act late in the afternoon with four species of Butterflies and before I forget, the Pipistrelle Bat was over the gardens late in the evening once again. Such a delightful thing to watch and so more interesting than watching those awful Soaps on TV (sorry wifee!).

My Moth Box:

Another new Moth for the year, this micro moth Chestnut Tortrix.

July kicked off with a reasonable total of Moths with 79 moths of 32 species recorded this morning. Another 5.15am start and easily the ‘Moth of the Morning’ was my first Pine Hawk-moth of the year that was sitting on one of the outside egg trays. This species is virtually annual now to my garden and always a pleasure to see such a fresh specimen by my Moth trap. Another new Moth for the year was the micro moth Chestnut Tortrix (Cydia splendana), although this individual was quite a dark type and normally quite obvious to look at, so I did a double check to make sure of its ID.

Above, one of three Common Rustic aggs and below, a pair of Apple Leaf Miners.

Other notable Moths this morning included both Snout and Bloxworth Snout and up to three Common Rustic species of Moth; however, what species of Common Rustic can only be told by dissection. Another Cabbage Moth for the week was notable too. Among the micro moths, a Meal Moth (Pyralis farinalis) was perched on the outside guttering and a very good count of 13 Apple Leaf Miners (Lyonetia clerkellla) were recorded. It is such a tiny Moth that it can easily be overlooked and I am so pleased that they are very bright white in colour, but you need a Magnifying Glass to notice the brightly coloured tail on these micro moths. The Moths present this morning included the following:

MACRO MOTHS	MICRO MOTHS
Pine Hawk-moth * x1	Bud Moth x1
Willow Beauty x3	Garden Grey x1
Double-striped Pug x3	Common Plume x1
Lime-speck Pug x1	Apple Leaf Miner x13
Lackey x5	Garden Grass-veneer x8
Riband Wave x7	Barred Marble x2
Common Emerald x2	Meal Moth x1
Pale Mottled Willow x1	Rosy Tabby x2
Common Footman x1	Rusty-dot Pearl x2
Dark Arches x5	Bee Moth x1
Snout x1	Box Tree Moth x1
Bloxworth Snout x1	Bird-cherry Ermine x2
Cabbage Moth x1	Large Pale Masoner x1
Garden Carpet x1	Chestnut Tortrix * x1
Common Rustic agg. x3

Other insects within the Moth Box this morning included a Cinnamon Sedge Caddisfly and the brightly coloured Broad Centurion Soldier Fly.

Pembroke Road, Old Portsmouth:

The Green east of the Bowling Green is starting to look very yellow due to lack of rain.

I managed to record up to 13 bird species from both shifts in Pembroke Road and unlike yesterday, it was bright and sunny and lasted right through the day where temperatures got up into the middle 70’s. Once again, all the usual species were present including three species of Gull: Great Black-backed, Herring and Black-headed Gulls. The House Sparrows were calling repeatedly over by the Bowling Green, although there was a lot of hedge maintenance by the Ground Staff this morning, hence no Pied Wagtails on the Green itself.

Above, this Garden Spider was the biggest I have seen yet this year and below, a Harlequin Ladybird was also by the Hibiscus Bushes.

A few insects were noteworthy by the Hibiscus Bushes, which included a few Buff-tailed Bumblebee’s, a couple of Garden Spiders (including one rather big one; the others are tiny!) and a few butterflies going past included a Red Admiral and a Small White. 

My Garden:

After my second shift, while consuming a nice cold drink while sitting in the back garden, I recorded four species of Butterfly during the 15 minutes I was there that included a Red Admiral, Holly Blue, Small White and a Painted Lady. A lot of my Buddleia has died off now and not many flowers are on show, but the Butterflies are still coming in, which is excellent news.