A very rare Moth arrives in my garden.

 

Tuesday 7th July 2026.

 

This was a real treat. My first ever Starry Pearl moth was flushed in my garden, but eventually settled for me to grab a few quick photos.

Yet another hot day and a very warm night as I awoke around 4.30am this morning! I was up and about in the garden by 4.45am and though still a little dark, I waited patiently with a hot cup of coffee as I started to record the Moths around the garden before hitting the Moth Box.

The day got even better later in the afternoon when I stumbled across an extremely rare Moth for the UK and only seen in a very few places on the south coast. It was another ‘Lifer’ for me personally and to be honest, I had never heard of this Moth before. More to follow below.

My Moth Box:

My first Jersey Tiger moth for this year.

Though not as many as yesterday, a total of 83 moths of 34 species were recorded this morning that included my first Jersey Tiger of the year and also the very small Horse-chestnut Leafminer micro moth. It was simply a case of the little and large show!

The very small Horse-chestnut Leafminer micro moth was my first of the year.

Another Small Mottled Willow was present again as was the Plumed Fan-foot and an Elephant Hawk-moth was sat inside the Moth Box. Always special when you get a Hawk-moth in the garden. Once again, the Apple Leaf Miners were the most abundant with 32 individuals being counted this morning. The Mint Moth and the Hampshire Dowd was also notable among the micro moths.   The Moths recorded this morning were as follows:

 

MACRO MOTHS	MICRO MOTHS
Willow Beauty x1	Beautiful Plume x1
Small Mottled Willow x1	Common Plume x3
Plumed Fan-foot x1	Rosy Tabby x4
Jersey Tiger * x1	Blushed Knot-horn x1
Elephant Hawk-moth x1	Elderberry Pearl x1
Lackey x1	Apple Leaf Miner x32
Common Emerald	Garden Grey x1
Lime-speck Pug x1	Brown House Moth x1
Common Rustic agg x1	Golden-brown Tubic x1
Double-striped Pug x1	Mint Moth x1
Bright-line Brown-eye x1	Chestnut Tortrix x1
L-album Wainscot x1	Rusty-dot Pearl x7
	Mother of Pearl x1
	Garden Grass-veneer x5
	Bee Moth x2
	Large Pale Masoner x1
	Light Brown Apple Moth x3
	Hampshire Dowd x2
	Bird-cherry Ermine x1
	Horse-chestnut Leafminer * x1
	Rufous Pearl x1
	Common Masoner x3

 

Insects were also attracted to the Moth box overnight and that included the tiny Green Immigrant Leaf Weevil that was crawling around on my Box. While I was checking the Moth Box, a Mistle Thrush was heard to fly over, and a calling Meadow Pipit was also heard and seen flying west over the houses.

The tiny but attractive Green Immigrant Leaf Weevil.

This afternoon, when I got back home in the afternoon, I took a walk into the garden and up flew a very interesting Moth. Thankfully, it rested on one of the fence panels, but when I got close enough to take a photo, the Moth flew off! I thought I had blown it, but I watched it fly around and then settle on my Clothesline and luckily grabbed a few photos of this really striking Moth.

A quick look on Obsidentify revealed it was my first ever Starry Pearl (Cynaeda dentalis) and so I quickly put it on the Hants Moths Facebook page. I got some interesting comments about the Moth, including from the Hants Moths Editor who informed me that the only sites they are known from were on the Browndown area (near Gosport) and on Hayling Island. Only a few records of this species are submitted each year. It really was a stunning little Moth.