Another early start for the Moths.

 Sunday 14th June 2026.

My first Plumed Fan-foot Moth of the year.

The nice weather carried on into today and I was up and at the garden at bang on 5am this morning. It seems the ‘body clock’ will not shut down for when those first rays of light come beaming through the crack in the curtain, I simply have to get up. A cup of coffee later and I am counting and recording another morning's worth of lovely Moths!

After chatting to my mates about the lack of Swifts over the house and in fact, Southsea in general, I was amazed to see a flock of 9 birds screaming low over my house yesterday evening and there were plenty more Swifts around early this morning, circling high over the house and calling to one another. Obviously, the week's poor weather had them searching for food many miles away and probably only coming back here to service their partners at their nesting sites.

My Moth Box:

Such an attractive Moth, the Gold Triangle.

This morning produced the second highest total of Moths for the week with a total of 59 moths of 35 species. There were good numbers of both macro and micro Moths of which there were four more species that were new for the year. This included the rare Plumed Fan-foot (a species that only recently have become annual to my garden) and the micro moths Marbled Orchard Tortrix (Hedya nubiferana), Gold Triangle (Hypsopygia costalis) and Common Masoner (Blastobasis adustella).

Above, my second Broad-barred White was a pleasant surprise this morning. Below, my first Marbled Orchard Tortrix.

Other notable Moths this morning included my second Lychnis of the year; a Clancy’s Rustic (second for the year) and my second, but first for the garden this year, a Broad-barred White. A Small Magpie Moth was my first for the garden, but my second for the year after seeing one at Cowplain Marsh. 

MACRO MOTHS	MICRO MOTHS
Plumed Fan-foot * x1	Beautiful Plume x1
Large Yellow Underwing x3	Light Brown Apple Moth x1
Willow Beauty x2	Garden Grass-veneer x1
White Ermine x3	Marbled Orchard Tortrix * x1
Pale Mottled Willow x4	Common Plume x1
Lychnis x1	Blushed Knot-horn x2
Heart & Dart x3	Large Pale Masoner x3
Riband Wave x6	Small Magpie Moth x1
Clancy’s Rustic x1	Ash-bark Knot-horn x1
L-album Wainscot x1	Pale-backed Detritus Moth x1
Dark Arches x4	Ruddy Streak x3
Double-striped Pug x1	Garden Mompha x1
Broad-barred White x1	Rusty-dot Pearl x1
Common Emerald x1	Barred Marble x2
Garden Carpet x1	Gold Triangle * x1
Green Pug x1	Common Masoner * x1
Lackey x1	Bramble-shoot Moth x1
	Box Tree Moth x1

Other insects attracted to the Moth Box included a Lacewing, a Common Banded Hoverfly (Syrphus ribesii) and another Hoverfly species, a Migrant aphideater (Eupeodes corollae).