A stunning Black Arches moth steals the show.

 

Friday 10^th July 2026.

Possibly, the most stunning Black Arches moth I have ever seen!

Finally, the end of the working week and yet another very hot day. Again, just the one shift in Pembroke Road today and standing in my usual spot, it was fairly comfortable in the shade. Once again, I was up at the crack of dawn and stumbled out into the garden to see what goodies lie in wait for me in and around the Moth Box.

There has been some amazing birds seen already in Hampshire and among an array of wading birds returning here after breeding, the icing on the cake was when an adult Night Heron was discovered on a small pond in the middle of Southampton by one fortunate birder who was having his lunch at the time! Of course, this sparked a big rush for all those Hampshire 'Listers' to catch up with this superb bird (except me as I was too busy!).

My Moth Box:

My first Netted Tortrix of the year.

A blistering 186 moths of 52 species were recorded this morning and this didn’t include quite a few that flew off when I switched the light off to the Box! Possibly another 20+ more!  Incredibly, there was only one Moth that was new for the year, a Netted Tortrix (Acleris forsskaleana); a species that is a annual species to my garden and a pretty Moth too.

Above, a Blair's Mocha on the lid of the Moth Box and below, an Elephant Hawk-moth was one of four this morning and here sharing some space with a Lackey.

A Jersey Tiger was always pleasing to see, but I feel this was eclipsed by an unusually marked Black Arches; one of those aberration types. Up to FOUR Elephant Hawk-moths graced the Moth Box and a smart Blair’s Mocha was most appreciated, sitting on top of the Moth Box. The migrant Moth, Small Mottled Willow, was present again and though I did get four of these one morning, I was reading that someone had around 30+ by his Moth Trap!

My second Dark Spectacle moth for the garden this year.

My second Dark Spectacle of the year in my garden was nice and Plumed Fan-foot, Least Carpet and Langmaid’s Yellow Underwing were also present. By far, the most numerous Moth were the Willow Ermine’s (Yponomeuta rorrella) with 22 individuals recorded, closely followed by 19 Apple Leaf Miners (Lyonetia clerkella). My second Water Veneer (Acentria nivea) of the year was present at the bottom of the Box and an Ash-bark Knot-horn (Euzophera pinguis) was noteworthy. The following Moths were recorded this morning:

 

MACRO MOTHS	MICRO MOTHS
Jersey Tiger x1	Light Brown Apple Moth x10
Black Arches x1	Elderberry Pearl x1
Elephant Hawk-moth x4	Box Tree Moth x1
Willow Beauty x2	Horse-chestnut Leafminer x1
Marbled Beauty x1	Willow Ermine x22
Riband Wave x8	Mint Moth x2
Blair’s Mocha x1	Hampshire Dowd x1
Common Emerald x4	Large Pale Masoner x3
Common Rustic x1	Water Veneer x1
Small Mottled Willow x1	Chestnut Tortrix x3
Dark Arches x3	Common Masoner x7
Lackey x3	Grey Knot-horn x2
Least Carpet x1	Blushed Knot-horn x4
Plumed Fan-foot x1	Rosy Tabby x2
Cloaked Minor x2	Rusty-dot Pearl x2
Double-striped Pug x5	Barred Yellowneck x2
Bright-line Brown-eye x4	Fulvous Pearl x1
Turnip Moth x1	Apple Leaf Miner x19
Lime-speck Pug x1	Golden-brown Tubic x2
Dark Spectacle x1	Ash-bark Knot-horn x1
Langmaid’s Yellow Underwing x1	Netted Tortrix * x1
Shuttle-shaped Dart x1	Beautiful Plume x2
Single-dotted Wave x1	Bird-cherry Ermine x13
	Garden Grass-veneer x10
	Ruddy Streak x2
	Garden Grey x4
	Common Plume x6

 

The Hornet-mimic Hoverfly on my garden fence.

After packing the Moth Box away and returning the outside trays, something caught my eye sat at the top of the fence behind the Moth Box was a Hornet-mimic Hoverfly (Volucella zonaria), sitting quite comfortably in the very early morning sunshine.

 

Pembroke Road, Old Portsmouth:

Only 11 bird species were recorded this morning during my early shift and apart from the calling Coal Tit deep within the Holm Oaks and the Wren going back and forth to its nest close to where I stand, all was very quiet and still. Hardly any wind blew and I knew it was going to be a very hot day indeed. A few butterflies were on the wing that included a Painted Lady, a couple of Small Whites and a Large White. I was sure a Vapourer Moth flew high over and then over the rooftops judging by its flight pattern.

In Hampshire today:

The Night Heron at Miller's Pond. Photo by Andy Friend.

As mentioned, a Night Heron was found on Miller’s Pond in Scholing, Southampton, by one very fortunate Birder when he was having his lunch. This caused a bit of a stir in the 'Listing world' and a few birders managed to connect with the bird late yesterday evening and some of the ‘die hards’ were there at first light this morning to connect with the bird feeding from the Lilly pads. Having seen good numbers in Turkey this year, it does dampen the enthusiasm to take a drive there in this heat though I might go over the weekend.

The Temminck's Stint on Pennington Marshes earlier this week. Photo by Steve Laycock.

Yesterday, two Curlew Sandpipers were at Pennington Marshes along with a Temmincks Stint , which was quite possibly the Farlington Marshes bird seen a few days ago.  Common Sandpipers, Little Ringed Plovers and a Spotted Redshank were on the south scrape recently on Titchfield Haven. It is now that failed breeders and juvenile birds are now turning up on our reserves here in the south.