A foggy walk with the dogs and another Moth 'year-tick'.

Sunday 8th November 2026.

I thought it would be appropriate to post this photo I took this morning on my walk of the 'Yomper' at the Old Royal Marines Buildings on Remembrance Sunday.

When I walked out into the garden this morning, the area was bathed in fog and when I heard the fog horns out in the Solent, I knew then we were in for a very foggy morning. After the Moths, I took the dogs for a very long walk down to Southsea Beach, then on to Eastney and then back again down Henderson Road. Our Vets earlier this week told us to walk the dogs much further than usual as they need to lose wait as do I!

My Moth Box:

My first Oak Rustic of the year was a pleasant surprise.

I was in for a nice surprise this morning when I opened the Moth Box and found my first Oak Rustic of the year on one of the egg trays. I knew a fellow ‘Moth-er’ had one in his Moth Box earlier this week, so I realised they must be on the wing now. Still, an excellent addition to my Moth year list.

Another late Vine's Rustic for the garden.

A total of 19 moths this morning of 7 species of which 8 of these were Light Brown Apple Moths (Epiphyas postvittana). A late Vine’s Rustic was on one of the outside egg trays and up to 3 Double-striped Pugs were also on the outside egg trays. Probably yesterday’s Golden Twin-spot was back in the Box!

One of three Double-striped Pugs.

The Moths recorded this morning included the following:

 

MACRO MOTHS	MICRO MOTHS
Oak Rustic * x1	Beautiful Plume x1
Vine’s Rustic x1	Rusty-dot Pearl x4
Golden Twin-spot x1	Light Brown Apple Moth x8
Double-striped Pug x3

 

While checking the Moth Box, nothing flew over that I could hear anyway, but at the back of the garden, there was a Blackbird and Blue Tit foraging in the big tree and the local House Sparrows were calling continuously from the rooftops nearby.

 

My walk with the dogs this morning:

We walked past the Mute Swans at Canoe Lake this morning on our way to the seafront.

As mentioned, there was thick fog over Southsea as visibility was down to around 100 metres and once the dogs and I got to the Promenade, you could not see the sea whatsoever, but you could hear the fog horns coming from the ships on the Solent. A few birds were seen on our walk and that included two pairs of Pied Wagtails, plenty of Starlings and both Wren and Robin were heard. When I got to Henderson Road, a pair of Goldcrests were seen high up in the Sycamore Trees but proved very difficult to photograph as they were both so active!

Above, the Mute Swans and a Herring Gull at Canoe Lake and below, a gathering of both Herring and Black-headed Gulls were on the grass just north of the Lake in the fog.

A couple of Starlings landed on one of the Street lamps along Eastney Esplanade. Below, Ted having a good run on the beach.

I really enjoyed that walk as not only was the exercise good, but you tend to see and notice stuff a lot more when you are walking. While walking along Eastney Esplanade, I was constantly searching for any possible Wheatears, Shorelarks or Snow Buntings; but to no avail!