Wild fires in Europe and another interesting haul of Moths.

 

Wednesday 29^th July 2026.

A stunning moon scape last night over Southsea.

There was a very impressive moon last night before I headed off to bed, with a few wispy clouds drifting past and creating a wonderfully atmospheric scene. I wondered whether those conditions might help bring in the moths by morning.

It was another balmy night, although the garden furniture was covered in a heavy dew by first light. The moth numbers were only average, but the variety was good once again, with several pleasing migrant species among the catch.

Sadly, the news is dominated by the severe forest fires in southern Europe, where hundreds of thousands of homeowners have been forced to leave their properties. The loss of homes is devastating enough, but the scale of the burnt landscape and the wildlife habitat destroyed is equally heartbreaking.

With the Earth continuing to warm because of climate change, it is hard not to wonder whether we will ever learn how to prevent such damaging and catastrophic conditions in the future. I think of the New Forest facing a similar threat and ask myself how we can better manage and protect such precious places from the same fate.

Time will tell. As I write, there is still no sign of rain in the near future, and another heatwave is settling over the UK.

 

My Moth Box:

I think this must be my fourth Bordered Straw moth I have seen this year. 

An average total of 53 moths of 28 species early this morning and apart from the gorgeous three Garden Tiger moths, a Bordered Straw was a nice surprise this morning, which was sat in one of the outside egg trays. The only other migrant moths were two Golden Twin-spots and two Rusty-dot Pearls (Udea ferrugalis).

Above, my first Bloxworth Snout moth of July and below, one of two Golden Twin-spots.

Above, the Pale-streaked Grass-moth and below, one of three Garden Tiger moths.

A Bloxworth Snout, my first for July, was also in one of the outside egg trays and regarding the micro moths, both Straw Grass-moth (Agriphila straminella) and Pale-streaked Grass-moth (Agriphila selasella) were present along with two Tawny-fronted Straws (Neocochylis molliculana), which were the more notable species among the micro moths. The Moths recorded this morning are as follows:

 

MACRO MOTHS	MICRO MOTHS
Garden Tiger x3	Mother of Pearl x3
Bloxworth Snout x1	Bird-cherry Ermine x1
Pale Mottled Willow x2	Apple Leaf Miner x7
Common Rustic x3	Tree-mallow Tortrix x1
Golden Twin-spot x2	Blushed Knot-horn x2
Bordered Straw x1	Brown House Moth x2
Willow Beauty x1	Rusty-dot Pearl x2
Lime-speck Pug x1	Light Brown Apple Moth x2
Cabbage Moth x1	Dark Moss-moth x1
Bright-line Brown-eye x1	Tawny-fronted Straw x2
Small Dusty Wave x2	Straw Grass-moth x1
	Pale-streaked Grass-moth x1
	Garden Grass-veneer x2
	Common Masoner x3
	Common Plume x3
	Box Tree Moth x1
	Ruddy Streak x1