I'm still working down in Oxfordshire this week and staying in an Airbnb in Buckland. The owners have kindly let me use the garden for moth trapping each night, and some of the autumn moths have really been on show in the morning catch. Here are the moths I've trapped during my stay this week.
I left work this afternoon and headed down to the South Downs in East Sussex, with one moth in particular in mind: the Channel Island Pug. I had visited the Tamarisk Peacock moth site a few evenings earlier without any luck, but with the weather forecast looking reasonably promising, I decided it was worth another attempt.
Before heading to Eastbourne, I called in at a private site near Seaford, where I hoped to find the Lace Border moth.
It turned out to be a very worthwhile stop, as I soon found a small colony of these attractive little moths. After a bit of searching, they eventually started to show really well, giving me some excellent views. This was a species I had been hoping to add to my list, so finding several individuals was a great start to the evening.
The Lace Border (Scopula ornate) is a particularly attractive and delicate moth, with finely patterned wings that give it an almost fragile appearance. Once more widespread in Britain, its range has declined considerably, and it is now found only locally, mainly in the south-east of England. It is associated with warm, open habitats such as grassland, heathland and woodland edges. Adults have two flight periods, appearing first during May and June, with a second generation flying from late July through to September. The larvae feed mainly on thyme (Thymus) and marjoram (Origanum), with those of the second generation overwintering before completing their development the following year.
With the Lace Border safely in the bag, I continued towards Eastbourne, hoping the evening would improve enough for a trapping session at Tamerisk Peacock. Unfortunately, the weather had other ideas. By the time I arrived, conditions had deteriorated dramatically, with strong winds gusting to around 30 mph and torrential rain. There was absolutely no chance of finding a Channel Island Pug in conditions like these. The forecast had been seriously wrong, and, to put it mildly, I was absolutely fuming! With little else I could do, I decided to call it a night, grab some food and rethink the plan.
The following morning, the wind was still blowing a hoolie, so I decided that rather than hanging around East Sussex hoping the weather would improve, I headed west towards Portland in Dorset, with the intention of doing some birding during the day and setting the moth traps overnight.
On arriving in Weymouth, I stopped at Chesil Beach, where the conditions were still pretty wild. Despite the wind, I managed to see two juvenile Grey Phalaropes, which showed exceptionally well.
As evening approached, however, things finally began to improve. The wind started to ease, and I decided to head down to Freshwater Bay, where I set up the traps along the cliff-foot paths.
The traps produced a good selection of moths throughout the night, and, despite the difficult conditions earlier in the trip, I was rewarded with a new species for my list: Feathered Brindle.
It was a satisfying way to finish what had been a rather unpredictable few days. From chasing a Channel Island Pug in East Sussex, finding a small colony of Lace Borders near Seaford, battling 30 mph winds and torrential rain, and then heading west to Portland, the trip certainly didn't go quite according to plan! But that's the appeal of natural history. The weather, the wildlife and even the plans rarely cooperate exactly as expected, and sometimes the unexpected encounters end up being the most memorable.
A great few days on the south coast, with some excellent birding, a good selection of moths and, most importantly, a couple more lifers added to the list.
A very successful trip to Sussex tonight, thanks to my good friend Alan Lewis, who had visited the site the previous evening.
I finished work and made my way down to Eastbourne at dusk, and it didn’t take long to find the Tamarisk Peacock. A few hours of searching produced many adults and larvae.
Historically a very rare immigrant, it was first recorded in Kent in 2004 and has since been recorded increasingly along the south coast. Warmer summers and milder winters may also be helping this Mediterranean species survive and breed successfully in Britain.
Green-fanged Tube-web SpiderAn active Jetstream and Atlantic-driven conditions delivered a mixed spell of wet, windy weather and calm, blue skies. Avian arrivals from the west were the order of the day: more rare seabirds, a bundle of Nearctic shorebirds and even the first New World passerine of autumn 2026. Read more>
I last visited this site back in July, shortly after the Long-tailed Shrike first turned up, and with my accommodation only around 30 minutes away, I decided to call in again this afternoon.
The bird, a 1st-summer male, has now been present for an incredible 54 days and has undergone its summer moult, giving it a more adult appearance.
I was pretty overwhelmed by the bird this afternoon. It was showing exceptionally well, often down to just a few metres, and seemed completely unconcerned by the number of birders gathered to watch it.
It was also very active, spending plenty of time hunting and catching beetles and crickets before returning to its favoured perches. Watching it hunting at such close range gave some superb views of its behaviour.
The bird clearly seems to have become accustomed to the crowds by now and shows little sign of being bothered by the people watching it. It simply carried on feeding and going about its business.
Having last seen it back in July, it was great to return and see the bird again, particularly now that it has moulted.
An active jet stream and a series of low-pressure systems arriving off the Atlantic Ocean meant it was another excellent week for west-coast seawatchers and transatlantic wader arrivals, while there were still decent numbers of continental migrants kicking about after late August's big arrival. As it so often does during September, Shetland delivered a bombshell over the weekend. Strap in, autumn is here …Read more>
