Heatwave incoming

The heat started to build once more over the weekend, with highs of around 28 degrees, and getting close to the heatwave threshold for the east (Which I believe is 29 degrees or above).

A great selection of moths were observed on Saturday night including two new for garden species.

The first was Dusky Brocade, a moth I take occasionally locally at the fen and probably expected eventually. A common moth many years ago but has seen a rapid decline in recent times.  

The other was a smaller moth in the Tortrix family, Aethes cnicana, a moth of wasteland and grassland, the larvae feeding from thistles, so should be common?

In total, around 60 species were seen, maybe more. Of that amount, 15 were new!

It's quite remarkable that we aren't even in July yet and I'm nearly at 500 species for the year. 675 is the yearly best which was set last year, could it be beaten? we'll see. 

Other lovely moths included a stunning Large Emerald, two of the similar Pug species (Currant & Wormwood, nice to see the comparison between the two).

A few migrants were seen, including a really poorly Rush Veneer which was the first seen this year, backed up by several Plutella xylostella, 1 Rusty-dot Pearl and 1 Small Mottled Willow.

Things are going from hot to ridiculously hot now, where we will see the June temperature record not just broken, but smashed.

 

Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 472 species 

 

20/06/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

 

Macro Moths
 

Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing 1 [NFY]

Currant Pug 1 [NFY]

Dusky Brocade 1 [NFG]

Large Emerald 1 [NFY]

Marbled White Spot 1 [NFY]

Wormwood Pug 1 [NFY]


Micro Moths

Acleris variegana 1 [NFY]

Aethes cnicana 1 [NFG] 

Caloptilia cuculipennella 1 [NFY]

Caloptilia rufipennella 1 [NFY]

Metzneria lappella 2 [NFY]

Nomophila noctuella 1 [NFY] 

Phycitodes binaevella 1 [NFY]

Phyllonorycter comparella 1 [NFY]

Rhopobota naevana 1 [NFY]

Scoparia basistrigalis 1 [NFY] 

 

Dusky Brocade

Large Emerald

Phyllonorycter comparella

Wormwood Pug

Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing

Caloptilia cuculipennella

Caloptilia rufipennella

Caloptilia semifascia

 

 

 

The never-ending warmth

Another good catch on Friday night here in the east.

I set the trap up at 9pm, switched on then made tracks to my local nature reserve for some mobile mothing.

Upon returning back home at 2am, I decided to go through my garden trap and shut it down and go to bed, it was already starting to get light in the east at this point! 

Numbers were quite impressive for certain species, but actual species weren't as high as expected given the 19 degrees.

Maybe it is too hot? As there weren't many Noctuids to be found, micros were the main theme, they seem to tolerate these extreme conditions more than the bigger moths I find.

 

Moth of the night was a nice Yarrow Pug, not one of common Pug species here.

 

Still extremely humid overnight even when we have clear skies!

 

There are many weather models now hinting that Tuesday to Thursday here could be between 35 and 38 degrees!!

 

Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 456 species 

 

19/06/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

 

Macro Moths
 

Common White Wave 1 [NFY]

Double Square-spot 1 [NFY]

Yarrow Pug 1 [NFY]


Micro Moths

Acrobasis advenella 1 [NFY]

Dichrorampha alpinana/flavidorsana 1 [NFY]

Gypsonoma sociana 1 [NFY]

Hypsopygia glaucinalis 1 [NFY]

Phycita roborella 1 [NFY]

Acrobasis advenella

Common White Wave

Dichrorampha alpinana flavidorsana

Double Square-spot

Hypsopygia glaucinalis

Phycita roborella

Yarrow Pug

So warm, so humid

Well what a heatwave we are experiencing currently.

After those warm two weeks at the end of May, it wasn't long before we were back into even higher temperatures here in the east.

Friday was another warm day in excess of 31 degrees here, and with nighttime lows of 18.3c the trap was pretty busy with species and numbers, with over 20 Leopard Moths once more, and 40+ Common Footman.

The micros have really excelled here, with huge variety.

 

During the daytime several Red-belted and Currant Clearwings came to different lures, I haven't gone all out with lures this year, favouring trying unusual lures rather than the standard clearwing ones.

I've still got TAB and SAL out though, for Dusky and Sallow Clearwing.

 

Back to the overnight catch and wowzers, it was pretty mental.

 

I'll list the highlights briefly below.

 

Small Marbled - A garden first and one I've not seen for 15 years! Back in 2011 I took the 2nd & 3rd Hertfordshire county records. How I managed to find it I do not know. I went through my trap at 3:30, back to bed at 4am and then up again at 6:30, sweeping the dead flies from the patio I saw a tiny pale moth and blow me down, a little Small Marbled!

 

Coleophora albidella/anatipennella - Another garden first species, one of two that I could narrow it down to, a beautiful white Coleophora species that actually behaved itself and was quite photogenic.

 

Nemapogon ruricolella - An uncommon visitor here, usually to the Clearwing lures, but this alighted at my actinic trap. A fairly distinct moth, separated from variatella by it's ochreous ground colour and buff head (white in variatella) it is also a little bigger than the similar cloacella. 

 

Coleophora violacea - After a spate of this species to pheremone lures in 2022, I saw none until Thursday night when out of the blue, I netted one. A distinct dark green species with black antennae that feature white tips. 

 

A fantastic time to be recording moths, but It's blooming tiring! 

 

Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 448 species 

 

18/06/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

 

Macro Moths

Brown-tail 1 [NFY]
Dun-bar 1 [NFY]
Scalloped Oak 1 [NFY]
Small Marbled 1 [NFG]
Currant Clearwing 2 (To TIP lure)
Red-belted Clearwing 4 (1 to SAL & 3 to LOR lure)

Micro Moths

Acleris forsskaleana 1 [NFY]
Acrobasis repandana 1 [NFY]
Catoptria pinella 1 [NFY]
Coleophora albidella/anatipennella 1 [NFY]
Coleophora vestianella 1 [NFY]
Coleophora violacea 1 [NFY] (netted)
Cydia nigricana 2 [NFY] (netted)
Ectoedemia hannoverella/turbidella 1 [NFY]
Lozotaeniodes formosana 2 [NFY]
Nemapogon ruricolella 1 [NFY]
Oegoconia sp 2 [NFY]
Paraswammerdamia nebulella 1 [NFY]
Tinea columbariella 2 [NFY]
Zeiraphera isertana 1 [NFY]

 

Acleris forsskaleana

Acrobasis repandana

Brown-tail

Coleophora albidella/anatipennella

Coleophora vestianella

Dun-bar

Ectoedemia hannoverella/turbidella

Lozotaeniodes formosana

Nemapogon ruricolella

Small Marbled

Zeiraphera isertana

 

 

 

Still going as strong as a stallion

Things are certainly well above average currently in my garden, and no doubt in other people's gardens as well.

The numbers of species is quite something, and although most species are coming in in 1's and 3's there are a few exceptions.

 

Leopard Moth, now that I've had a full count around the garden are now up to 23 for last night, and Common Footman have exceeded that with 31!

 

The noctuids were still out in full force as well, with Dark Arches, Heart & Club and Turnip Moth the commonest. 

 

Species new for the year included a lovely Blackneck, the always knackered look of a Brown Scallop and talking of knackered, the Clouded-bordered Brindle wasn't much cop either!

V-Moth was another lovely moth, a rather localised speciality here and I usually get 1 or 2 per year. 

 

Plenty of micros once more, they were certain0ly a massive challenge to photograph this evening in the high 20's heat.

 

More of the same for possibly the next 7 days, quite remarkable for the middle of June.

 

Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 430 species 

 

17/06/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

 

Macro Moths

Blackneck 1 [NFY]
Brown Scallop 1 [NFY]

Clouded-bordered Brindle 1 [NFY]
V-Moth 1 [NFY]

Micro Moths

Cosmopterix scribaiella 2 [NFY]

Cydalima perspectalis 2 [NFY]

Ectoedemia heringella 3 [NFY]

Elophila nymphaeata 1 [NFY]

Grapholita tenebrosana 1 [NFY]

monochroa lucidella 1 [NFY] 

Pyralis farinalis 1 [NFY]
Coleophora sp 1 [TBC]

 

V-Moth

Blackneck

Brown Scallop

Cosmopterix scribaiella

Cydalima perspectalis

Elophila nymphaeata

Pyralis farinalis

 

The busy period

Peak mothing from now by the looks of it, and it doesn't get much better than this.

With no less than 71 species logged last night, including 22 species that were new for the year, and a bonus 23rd in the shape of a visiting Hummingbird Hawk-moth feeding from our Verbana  during late afternoon.

The tiny (but luckily) distinctive Elachista utonella, is new for the garden and moth sp no.937, the 2nd new species of Elachista to recorded this year. 

Two of the new macros I did not record last year (Ruddy Carpet and Single-dotted Wave). 

Micros certainly picked up with the muggy overnight conditions and included some rather scarce species such as Homoeosoma nebulella, Recurvaria nanella & Vitula biviella.

More of the same each night now I reckon, we'll see what new species turn up over the next few nights. 

 

Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 419 species 

 

16/06/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

 

Macro Moths

Dark Umber 1 [NFY]
Hummingbird Hawk-moth 1 [NFY] (daytime)
Lesser Yellow Underwing 4 [NFY]
Mottled Beauty 1 [NFY]
Ruddy Carpet 1 [NFY]
Single-dotted Wave 1 [NFY]
Southern Wainscot 1 [NFY]

Micro Moths

 

Amblyptilia acanthadactyla 1 [NFY]
Anania perlucidalis 1 [NFY]
Argyresthia albistria 1 [NFY]
Batia lunaris 2 [NFY]
Elachista utonella 1 [NFG]
Endotricha flammealis 1 [NFY]
Epiblema foenella 1 [NFY]
Epinotia abbreviana 1 [NFY]
Ethmia dodecea 1 [NFY]
Gypsonoma aceriana 1 [NFY]
Homoeosoma nebulella 1 [NFY]
Marasmarcha lunaedactyla 1 [NFY]
Mompha ochraceella 2 [NFY]
Niditinea fuscella/striolella sp 1 [NFY]
Recurvaria nanella 1 [NFY]
Vitula biviella 1 [NFY]

 

Anania perlucidalis

Argyresthia albistria

Dark Umber

Elachista utonella

Epinotia abbreviana

Ethmia dodecea

Gypsonoma aceriana

Homoeosoma nebulella

Southern Wainscot

Vitula biviella

 

 

 

 

Quick post before a busy period?

Last night was milder but there were less species, but plenty of moths.

Undoubtedly the highlight was a second Striped Hawk-moth for the year, sitting proudly on the outside of the trap this morning at 4am, I was up late and some moths succumbed to the jaws of the local Blackbird!

Other migrants included a Silver Y, Small Mottled Willow, 5x Plutella xylostella and a fresh Clancy's Rustic.

Swallow-tailed Moth was the sole new macro for the year, backed up by 3 new micros.  

Some real muggy nights approaching, should be pretty darn good! 

 

Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 396 species 

 

15/06/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

 

Macro Moths

Swallow-tailed Moth 1 [NFY]

Clancy's Rustic 1 

Silver Y 1 

Striped Hawk-moth 1

 

Micro Moths

 

Aleimma loeflingiana 1 [NFY]

Eucosma conterminana 1 [NFY]

Pexicopia malvella 1 [NFY] 

Plutella xylostella 5 

 

Swallow-tailed Moth

Aleimma loeflingiana

Eucosma conterminana

Pexicopia malvella

Scythropia crataegella

Striped Hawk-moth!

 

 

Kicking into gear, the Ermines are here

As the years have gone by, I've had huge influx’s of Ermine moths, the Yponomeuta variety. Usually a mixture of 5 possible species, a couple of them can be told apart, but the 3 that are inseparable are cagnagella, malinellus & padella.

Last night I got 3 of evonymella (Easily distinguished from the others by its multi-dotted forewings), and 1 of the triple headache cag/mal/pad as I put them down on my spreadsheet, the first of many no doubt.

There was a bit more activity and that was encouraging, especially as we head towards warmer days and nights.

Only two macro moths were new, Dwarf Cream Wave and Haworth's Pug.

The micros fared better with 8 new species for the year. 

Crambus pascuella was welcome after a year off in 2025 for reasons unknown, the odd little Carcina quercana (or Flat Cooper as it was affectionately known).

Netting at dusk yielded a year first Dichrorampha vancouverana, a real challenge to pot up from the net!

Get those traps ready!  

 

Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 392 species 

 

14/06/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

 

Macro Moths

Dwarf Cream Wave 1 [NFY]

Haworth's Pug 1 [NFY]

Micro Moths

 

Carcina quercana 1 [NFY]

Crambus pascuella 1 [NFY]

Crassa unitella 1 [NFY] 

Dichrorampha vancouverana 1 [NFY]

Eucosma cana 2 [NFY]

Udea olivalis 1 [NFY]

Yponomeuta cag mal pad 1 [NFY]

Yponomeuta evonymella 3 [NFY] 

 

Yponomeuta evonymella

Carcina quercana

Crambus pascuella

Crassa unitella

Dichrorampha vancouverana

Dwarf Cream Wave

Haworth's Pug

Yponomeuta cag mal pad