Two excellent Moths to kick off a brighter day.

Monday 26^th October 2026.

A much brighter start her in Askerswell this morning after heavy overnight rain.

An awful lot of overnight rain had left my outside egg trays all sodden and I am hoping they all dry today as the weather has finally changed (fingers crossed!). Though I was up at ‘stupid o’clock’ again this morning, I could hear the wind drop and the rain that was earlier hammering against the window finally stopped. It left behind a full moon west of the Cottage and a bright start beckoned. All we needed now was the sun to rise.

While I was lying in bed, contemplating in getting up early again, I could hear one of the Roe Deer ‘barking’ outside and this continued for at least an hour, which totally intrigued my dogs for they have never heard anything like it!

 

My Moth Box:

A stunning Mottled Umber was perched near the Moth Box.

Despite the grim wet weather overnight and all my egg trays all soaked, I till managed to get 10 moths 8 species this morning. Two of which were new for the year as well; a stunning Mottled Umber and another nice moth, the Feathered Thorn. Both species have turned up in my Southsea garden, but very rarely and so to see these two species this morning really put a big smile on my face.

Above, my first Feathered Thorn of the year and below, the only micro moth present this morning was this Narrow-winged Grey.

The other Moths present included those that have been seen so far with the micro moth Narrow-winged Grey (Eudonia angustea) being the exception. I would not have seen it until it flew across the back of the garden and landed on a wooden fence. There were two other macro moths present, but they were so worn that I did not try to ID them but still safely released them from the Moth Box.

Just some of the Moths present this morning.

Once again, the Moth Box attracted several species of insects including two Ichneumon Wasps and at least 5 large Caddisflies plus numerous House Flies!

Two Ichneuman Wasps were in the Moth Box.

The Moths present this morning included the following:

 

MACRO MOTHS	MICRO MOTHS
Mottled Umber * x1	Narrow-winged Grey x1
November Moth x1
Feathered Thorn * x1
Large Yellow Underwing x1
Yellow-line Quaker x1
Beaded Chestnut x2
Green-brindled Crescent x2

 

While checking the Moth Box, there was a lot of birds going over or calling in the background. This included both Green and Great Spotted Woodpecker that were both heard only, however, a Mistle Thrush was seen calling high up in one of the Conifers by the garden. A Common Buzzard was calling in the small bit of woodland nearby and a Grey Wagtail was seen twice flying around high over the garden and eventually landed out of view in the small lane adjacent to the Cottage.

Above, this Jay perched up in a nearby tree this morning and below, a male Pheasant strutting his stuff in the field opposite our Cottage.

Again, there was a lot of finches flying over that included Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch and even a flock of 6 Crossbills going over heading west over the trees. A Jay flew out of the nearby woodland and headed south and still plenty of Corvids around the premises. A Red Admiral flew high around the garden before flying off north and out of view. A nice start to the day me thinks!