My 3rd Dewick's Plusea moth for the year and my first Redwing of the season.

Wednesday 14th October 2026.

I didn't expect to see this Red Admiral butterfly by my Moth Box light this morning. I did finally fly off back into the garden.

A balmy 18 degrees centigrade here in Southsea this morning under a blanket of thick dark cloud overhead as I made my way into my back garden this morning to check the Moth Box. A light southerly wind was blowing, but I couldn’t really notice it while I was checking the Moth Box.

The ‘Vis Mig’ was rather quiet this morning while I was checking my Moth Box, but I did get my first Redwing of the season overhead although it was a ‘heard only’ bird. In fact, even though it was overcast, I struggled a bit in locating the calling bird’s overhead. Up to 4 Pied Wagtails went over as did a single Grey Wagtail. Two individual Greenfinches also went over, and it was good to hear some House Sparrows in the gardens south of my garden calling as they have declined an awful lot around here in Southsea.

My Moth Box:

My 3rd Dewick's Plusea moth of the year here in my garden.

Another excellent morning with the Moths as a total of 80 moths of 15 species were recorded, though it was a Red Admiral butterfly fluttering away by the Moth Box light that nearly stole the show. Whether it was there all night remains to be seen, but it was when I was just about to go back indoors after packing everything away that I found a Dewick’s Plusea moth perched by the back door! This was my 3^rd of the year here in the garden and really put a big smile on my face.

Above, a Rosy Tabby and below, a Box Tree Moth.

Once again, the Light Brown Apple Moths (Epiphyas postvittana) made up 46% of the total, but good counts of 15 Rusty-dot Pearls (Udea ferrugalis) and 13 Feathered Ranunculus was impressive. 2 Golden Twin-spots, Rosy Tabby (Endotricha flammealis) and Olive-tree Pearl (Palpita vitrealis) were the best of the rest.

A Red-lined Quaker moth was not what my friend expected when it flew into her head last night!

My friend who lives near Haslemere sent a photo of a moth that hit her on the head last night! She managed to cup it under a glass and checking the photos, it turned out to be a Red-lined Quaker!

The Moths recorded this morning included the following:

 

MACRO MOTHS	MICRO MOTHS
Dewick’s Plusea x1	Rusty-dot Pearl x15
Feathered Ranunculus x13	Light Brown Apple Moth x37
Double-striped Pug x1	Tree-mallow Tortrix x2
Lunar Underwing x1	Common Plume x1
Garden Carpet x1	Olive-tree Pearl x1
Golden Twin-spot x2	Rosy Tabby x1
Lesser Yellow Underwing x1	Ruddy Streak x2
	Box Tree Moth x1