PINION-STREAKED SNOUT moth added to my Life List.

Tuesday 15th September 2026.

Dawn from my garden.

A cooler morning today with some cloud cover and hardly any wind whatsoever. When I was walking the dogs, there was a spectacular sunrise with the clouds painted fiery red; but numpty forgot to take his camera to record such a beautiful start to the morning. Doh!

On a positive side, there was a very good number of Moths present in and around my Moth Box early this morning as I made my way out to the garden around 6.25am (it’s getting later for enough sunlight to check the Moths!).

Back to Pembroke Road this morning and on my first shift and I managed to get into double figures again regarding the birds……just!

 

My Moth Box:

My first ever PINION-STREAKED SNOUT. This attractive small moth is now on my UK Moth Life List.

I was well pleased with a good Moth total of 95 individuals of 23 species, and this included my first ever PINION-STREAKED SNOUT that I found just inside the Moth Box. As I have never seen this species before in the flesh, I was really surprised on how small it was and more like a micro moth than a macro moth. Nevertheless, quite a smart looking little Moth and a welcome addition to my UK Moth Life List that currently stands at 743 species.

Above, this Mullein Wave was new for the year and below, two Vestal moths were recorded this morning.

A Mullein Wave perched on the fence panel behind my Moth Box was my first of the year and a good variety of migrant Moths to report as well. These included 2 Vestals, Golden Twin-spot, Pearly Underwing, Langmaid’s Yellow Underwing, Angle Shades and 3 Rusty-dot Pearls (Udea ferrugalis).

Some of the most numerous species this morning was (above) the L-album Wainscots and (below) the Large Yellow Underwings.

The ‘Underwings’ nearly took the title for the most moths this morning with 16 Lesser Yellows and 13 Large Yellow Underwings, but it was the L-album Wainscots that stole the show with a staggering 18 recorded. The following moths were counted this morning:

 

MACRO MOTHS	MICRO MOTHS
PINION-STREAKED SNOUT x1	Rusty-dot Pearl x3
Mullein Wave * x1	Light Brown Apple Moth x4
Lesser Yellow Underwing x16	Box Tree Moth x2
Large Yellow Underwing x13	Common Plume x1
Langmaid’s Yellow Underwing x1
Vestal x2
Golden Twin-spot x1
Pearly Underwing x1
Clancy’s Rustic x3
Square-spot Rustic x2
Willow Beauty x1
Double-striped Pug x8
Vine’s Rustic x1
L-album Wainscot x18
Blair’s Mocha x2
Buff Ermine x1
Pale Mottled Willow x4
Small Dusty Wave x5
Angle Shades x1

 

While checking the Moths, there was a small bit of bird passage overhead with a couple of single Meadow Pipits heading south as did a Yellow Wagtail. A Great Tit was making a lot of noise in the back of the garden but was easily shouted out by a couple of Magpies!

 

Pembroke Road, Old Portsmouth:

The cloud certainly rolled in this morning and at one stage I thought it was going to rain on my first shift today.  I managed to get up to 10 bird species this morning from my first shift here and that included sightings of both Grey Wagtail flying south high overhead and a Chiffchaff, which was quite possibly yesterday’s juvenile bird.

Apart from them, it was all the usual birds, but watching a group of Blue Tits chasing one another around the Holm Oaks was entertaining and lovely to hear the Robin singing away over the din of the passing traffic.

This afternoon was rather quiet again, however, one more species was added to the day list here and that was a lone Black-headed Gull that was seen flying high south. Sadly, no sign of any visible migration this afternoon, despite a heavy rain shower around midday here in Southsea. Thankfully, it was short-lived and a sunny bright afternoon took hold.

This evening, while walking the dogs, I flushed a Bloxworth Snout moth just outside my house and landed on my neighbour’s plant at the front of their house. My second Snout species for the day! I also found a Yellow-barred Brindle moth perched on the back window when I returned home from my second shift.

In Hampshire today:

This Osprey was seen and photographed at Fishlake Meadows today. Photo by Andy Tew.

The Pectoral Sandpiper was still present today on Butts Lagoon, Pennington Marshes. Nearby, Keyhaven lagoon held a Spoonbill, Spotted Redshank and a Little Stint. Titchfield Haven had a Wood Sandpiper on the South Scrape along with 8 Common Snipe, Common Sandpiper and a Glossy Ibis was seen flying over the Reserve. Two Water Rails were on show now some of the reedbed has been cut. A very early Redwing was seen over Butser Hill today.

One of the two Water Rails seen today at Titchfield Haven. Photo by Daz Gorman.