More migrant Moths & a fire in the New Forest.

 Monday 10th August 2026.

My second Portland Ribbon Wave on the year.

Another dry and bright start to the day although even at 5.30am this morning, it was still not quite light yet. There was hardly any wind and although the very light winds were coming in from the north, it was quite mild first thing. After reading the Migrant Lepidoptera Facebook site saying that it should be good for migrant moths over this coming week and what with yet another heat wave on its way again (5^th one for the year!), I decided to put the Moth box on overnight and it paid off with some excellent moths.

Sadly, as predicted, a fire broke out in the New Forest after a Lorry caught fire and the fire spread to the nearby heath by the A31 between Picket Post and junction 2 on the M27 where the road is now closed. More very important heathland and wildlife now going up in flames. There is no sign of any rain soon either and as another heat wave is on the way, whatever next?

My Moth Box:

The migrant moth Bordered Straw.

Another excellent total of 97 moths of 40 species recorded this morning. The only species new for the year was the micro moth House Moss-moth (Bryotropha domestica); a tiny moth yet annual to my garden.

Above, one of two Golden Twin-spot moths and below, the micro moth House Moss-moth, which was new for the year.

The migrant moths are still coming in with my second Portland Ribbon Wave of the year, Turnip Moth, 2 Golden Twin-spots, Small Mottled Willow, Silver Y and another Bordered Straw. Of the micro moths, an Olive-tree Pearl (Palpita vitrealis) was sitting just inside the Moth Box and 8 Rusty-dot Pearls (Udea ferrugelis) were recorded, though there could be many more hiding away among the plants within my garden.

Above, yet another Pale-streaked Grass-moth in my garden today.

Other notable moths this morning included 2 Garden Tigers, Small Ranunculus and one Blair’s Mocha and the micro moths included a Gold Triangle (Hypsopygia costalis) and a Pale-streaked Grass-moth (Agriphila selasella). Two more unidentified micros were among the many including a Coleophora species and an Etainia species, which both have to be dissected to be 100% sure of identification.

 

MACRO MOTHS	MICRO MOTHS
Brimstone Moth x1	Box Tree Moth x4
Pale Mottled Willow x7	Olive-tree Pearl x1
Vine’s Rustic x3	Light Brown Apple Moth x6
L-album Wainscot x1	Mint Moth x1
Willow Beauty x1	Rusty-dot Pearl x8
Double-striped Pug x7	Common Plume x5
Small Dusty Wave x4	Gold Triangle x1
Shuttle-shaped Dart x3	Chestnut Tortrix x2
Garden Tiger x2	Common Masoner x1
Small Ranunculus x1	Apple Leaf Miner x9
Turnip Moth x1	Garden Pebble x1
Marbled Beauty x2	Brown House Moth x1
Common Rustic x7	House Moss-moth * x1
Small Mottled Willow x1	Hawthorn Moth x1
Golden Twin-spot x2	Pale-streaked Grass-moth x1
Bright-line Brown-eye x3	Coloephora sp x1
Cabbage Moth x1	Ruddy Streak x1
Blair’s Mocha x1	Etainia sp x1
Bordered Straw x1
Portland Ribbon Wave x1
Silver Y x1

 

The only bird of note recorded this morning while checking the Moth Box was a Willow Warbler softly calling deep within vegetation at the back of my garden.

Yesterday, I didn’t do any birding (took me most of the morning to update my blog from Saturday’s sightings!), though I did flush a Silver Y moth  from one of the plants and the butterflies in my garden included a couple of Red Admirals, several Holly Blue’s and a Small White. Birding pal, Geoff Farwell, was back down Farlington Marshes yesterday and recorded the following sightings: Marsh Harrier, 8 Cattle Egrets, 2 Common Sandpipers, Little Ringed Plover, Avocet, 2 Greenshank, 60 Herring Gulls, Wheatear, Reed Bunting and 7+ Yellow Wagtails. There was also a small movement of Swifts, Sand and House Martins.