A nice selection of Moths this morning and a bit of 'Vis Mig'.

Friday 18^th September 2026.

Dawn over Highland Road Cemetery.

A cloudy start to the day here in Southsea, though it was quite bright and with a light south-westerly wind, it felt quite cool today, especially on my first shift in Pembroke Road, Old Portsmouth this morning. It was nearly ‘gloves’ weather!

The Moth Box was on overnight, and I was pleased to see the outside egg trays undisturbed this morning, though I was up at 4am and simply could not drop off to sleep again and so went downstairs to update my blog. It didn’t really get light till around 6.30am and so took photos of the Moths using my flash on my mobile phone!

My Moth Box:

It has been a good couple of months for Vestal moths including this one this morning.

Moth numbers are starting to decrease now as Autumn takes hold, but the variety can be interesting. There were no new species for the year list today but some nice Moths present that included a Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing (I think I have only had a few this year), Vestal, up to 3 Plumed Fan-foot and my second Lunar Underwing of the year.

From top to bottom: Lunar Underwing, Plumed Fan-foot and Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing.

Again, micro moths were in short supply, with just three species this morning. A total of 43 moths of 15 species today. The Moths present this morning included the following:

 

MACRO MOTHS	MICRO MOTHS
Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing x1	Light Brown Apple Moth x4
Lesser Yellow Underwing x10	Chevron Grass-moth x1
Large Yellow Underwing x10	Tree-mallow Tortrix x2
Square-spot Rustic x2
Plumed Fan-foot x3
Double-striped Pug x1
L-album Wainscot x3
Turnip Moth x1
Vestal x1
Cabbage Moth x1
Clancy’s Rustic x2
Lunar Underwing x1

 

Overhead, up to two Grey Wagtails were heard and then seen calling, both heading south and a small number of Meadow Pipits also went over. While walking the dogs on their early morning walk, more ‘Mipits’ flew over as did another Grey Wagtail.

 

Pembroke Road, Old Portsmouth:

This Carnation Tortrix moth was fluttering about in Pembroke Road this morning and eventually landed on the road sign.

Up to 13 bird species were recorded this morning on my first shift within Pembroke Road and probably the pick of the bunch was a male Sparrowhawk flying low eastbound overhead and being chased by up to 10 Magpies! This happened as soon as I stepped out of the car. A good start to the day.

Other notable birds here was the calling Chiffchaff yet again; it was heard calling down the footpath adjacent to the Bowling Green but not seen this morning. The pair of Jays put in a brief appearance again this morning when they flew up to the Sycamore trees nearby and then headed off west.