A nice variety of Autumn moths in cold conditions.

Wednesday 4^th November 2026.

Silver Y. This was perched on my fence behind the Moth Box.

It was certainly very cold this morning and although the temperature according to my car said 9 degrees, in that easterly wind, it felt like 2 degrees! It was an overcast morning with heavy grey cloud, but that does make picking out birds easier to see against a darker background rather than a bright blue sky.

There was a good variety of Moths in and around the Moth Box in my garden this morning and so I was pleased I put it on last night. However, absolutely nothing was heard or seen flying over the garden at 7.15am, though there was a Wren ‘churring’ in my neighbour’s garden and the House Sparrows could be heard south of my garden again.

My Moth Box:

My first Green-brindled Crescent for the garden this year.

I was pleased with the variety of macro moths this morning with my first Green-brindled Crescent and November Moth (or if we are going to be picky, an Epirrita species) for the garden this year. An L-album Wainscot was a rather late individual and I am not sure if I have ever seen one in November? The Red-line Quaker was only my second one for the garden this Autumn.

Above, a late L-album Wainscot and below, my first November Moth for the garden this year.

Above, my second Red-line Quaker for the year in my garden.

The usual micro moths were present although Rusty-dot Pearls (Udea ferrugalis) were down to just one individual. The Moths seen this morning included the following:

 

MACRO MOTHS	MICRO MOTHS
Silver Y x1	Light Brown Apple Moth x2
Golden Twin-spot x1	Common Plume x1
Green-brindled Crescent x1	Rusty-dot Pearl x1
L-album Wainscot x1
Red-line Quaker x1
November Moth x1

 

Pembroke Road, Old Portsmouth:

A cloudy overcast start to the day with a cold easterly.

As mentioned, my first shift at Pembroke Road this morning was damn cold, and I am so glad I am wearing my woolly hat. That easterly wind, though could bring some interesting birds to our shores, is so uncomfortable to be in, especially for an hour standing there. There were no large Wood Pigeon flocks seen this morning and the only real surprise was a Cormorant flying low over Governor’s Green heading south-east.

The Jays were busy going up and down the road, landing in the Sycamore trees or the trees by the Bowling Green. A Great Tit sat on the roof of the house opposite where I stood and called for some time before disappearing into the back garden.

There were two other sightings of which I could not 100% ID and that was a group of probably Brent Geese heading very distantly westbound towards Gosport. The size and shape and the way they flew had me thinking Brent Geese. Two thrush species flew out together from the Bowling Green trees and headed quickly west of which I presume they were either Redwing or Song Thrushes?

The birds seen or heard this morning included the following:

• Wood Pigeon
• Feral Pigeon
• Jay (2)
• Carrion Crow
• Robin (heard)
• Blue Tit
• Great Tit
• Herring Gull
• Black-headed Gull
• Starling
• Cormorant
• Blackbird
• House Sparrow