Hummingbird Hawk-moth in the Moth Box and a Tree Pipit over.

Thursday 1^st October 2026.

After last nights rain, a nice sunrise over Highland Road Cemetery as I walked past with the dogs.

The heavy rain overnight had all but disappeared by dawn arrived, leaving behind a bright blue start to the day and some visible migration going on overhead too. It was a tad cooler than yesterday with a light westerly blowing over Southsea and Old Portsmouth; but I had to wait till around 7.15am before I could switch off the Moth Box light to check the Moths.

My Moth Box:

This Hummingbird Hawk-moth within the Moth Box was a lovely surprise.

Despite the heavy rain, the Moth Box certainly provided a few surprises, notably the Hummingbird Hawk-moth perched on one of the egg trays within the Box. I think this was the second one this year I had in my Moth Box and always most welcome. I carefully placed the egg tray with the moth on our garden furniture nearby and by the time I turned my head, it was gone.

Above, a head on view of the Hummingbird Hawk-moth and below, the Diamondback Moth.

There were just 4 macro moth species this morning, though among them was the migrant moth Small Mottled Willow and a more familiar moth for this time of year, a Lunar Underwing. That left just a Willow Beauty that was perched on the garden fence nearby.

Above, the Fig-leaf Skeletonizer micro moth and below, the Tree-mallow Tortrix.

A whopping 33+ Light Brown Apple Moths (Epiphyas postvittana) were recorded this morning and boy, don’t they come in various guises! One individual even looked like the colour of the brick it sat on! My third Fig-leaf Skeletonizer (Choreutis nemorana) of the year was just inside the Box when I lifted the lid off and a pristine migrant Diamondback Moth (Plutella xylostella) was perched on one of the egg trays. Other migrant micros included 3 Rusty-dot Pearls (Udea ferrugalis) and an Olive-tree Pearl (Palpita vitrealis). All in all, 45 moths of 11 species were better than expected after last nights poor weather. The Moths recorded this morning included the following:

 

MACRO MOTHS	MICRO MOTHS
Hummingbird Hawk-moth x1	Rusty-dot Pearl x3
Willow Beauty x1	Light Brown Apple Moth x33
Small Mottled Willow x1	Tree-mallow Tortrix x1
Lunar Underwing x1	Diamondback Moth x1
	Ruddy Streak x1
	Fig-leaf Skeletonizer x1
	Olive-tree Pearl x1

 

While checking the Moth Box, there was some visible migration going on and that included not only a trickle of Meadow Pipits, but a Tree Pipit was heard somewhere high overhead but sadly not seen. Both Pied and Grey Wagtail were also heard as well as a Song Thrush going over. A Chiffchaff was calling in neighbouring gardens.

 

Pembroke Road, Old Portsmouth:

Governor's Green with the Royal Garrison Church in the background.

It was bright and sunny on arrival for my first shift in Old Portsmouth this morning and the bird species came thick and fast as soon as I got to my normal spot looking south over both the Bowling Green and Governor’s Green. A Cormorant was probably the most unusual species this morning, with two birds seen at separate times of the morning flying over Old Portsmouth. The only visible migration was a couple of Meadow Pipits calling as they flew off south-west, but picking up any calling high flying birds is difficult because of the drone of the passing traffic. The Chiffchaff was again heard down the footpath adjacent to the Bowling Green, though no sightings of the bird.

This superb image of a Kingfisher taken at Titchfield Haven recently. Photo by Daz Gorman.

Up to 16 bird species were recorded this morning on my first shift in Pembroke Road. The species that were heard only included the Wren, Robin, Great Tit but the Pied Wagtail was seen and heard on the Bowling Green again and up to 3 Blue Tits flew out of the trees and over my head heading north.

The bird species seen or heard today included the following:

• Magpie
• Carrion Crow
• Herring Gull
• Black-headed Gull
• Great Black-backed Gull
• Great Tit
• Blue Tit
• Chiffchaff
• Pied Wagtail
• Dunnock
• Wren
• Meadow Pipit
• Robin
• Wood Pigeon
• Feral Pigeon
• Cormorant (2)