Quarterly Moth Report

It's about time I compiled some sort of moth update, so here it is...

In the first three months of 2026 we have caught 338 moths of 38 species. Some 33 are NFG (new for the garden) which is no great surprise considering the garden list was just 31 at the end of 2025. The total now stands at 64. Regular attention to #TeamMoth chat on Bluesky suggests we are not doing too badly here in Axminster. Certainly there are several moth folk who have already tallied 50+ species for the year and/or take far bigger catches, but there are many more whose garden traps appear to offer a similar return to ours.

I suppose an obvious question is, how do results so far compare with the old Bridport garden? 2023 was our first spring of moth-trapping in Bridport. We didn't start until February but by the end of March had tallied 227 moths of 36 species across 22 successful nights. This year's Axminster total of 338/38 includes two January nights among the 31 on which we've caught something. Playing about with the numbers tells me we're averaging roughly 6% more moths per successful night than we did in Bridport, but that our 2026 species total should probably be a bit bigger. On balance - especially considering I thought mothing here would be total pants - I'm well happy with that!

Early spring moths include some real lookers. Two of them - Streamer and Shoulder Stripe - feed on Dog Rose, so I reckon we must have a decent stock of it somewhere nearby. In Bridport we only ever caught five and zero respectively; here in Axminster we are on 15 and 12 so far, and with plenty of time for more!

Streamer x2, both absolutely pristine.

Last night was a positive Streamer-fest, with eight in total, mostly on various bits of fence and brickwork near the trap...

At rest, Streamer has its abdomen slightly upcurved, and evidence so far suggests it prefers a head-down position!

Our best haul of Shoulder Stripe was five on 23rd/24th March. This species too likes to decorate vertical surfaces near the trap, has an even more distinct upcurve to its abdomen at rest and seemingly prefers a head-up position...

Here is a selection of Shoulder Stripes in various states of wear and grandeur...

The last two nights have brought another spring lovely, a species we saw only once in Bridport...

Water Carpet x2, both looking very fresh.

Another springtime belter is Brindled Beauty. In Bridport we trapped 20 in 2023, but none before April. So I hope the fact that we've already caught five here bodes well...

The well-named Brindled Beauty.

Finally, a small selection of other bits and pieces since the previous post...

A really not-drab Clouded Drab - 8 so far (cf. 9 in March 2023 in Bridport)

Early Tooth-striped - one of two so far (cf. three in spring 2023 in Bridport, all in April)

Early Tooth-striped #2

Judging by the Devon Moths website phenology chart for the species, this is probably Hourglass Mompha Mompha divisella, which has a good number of early spring records. Though of course it is one of those irritating grade 4 moths, and might just be Dusky Hourglass Mompha Mompha bradleyi. Either way, it's a NFG which was fortunate enough to fall into the hands of a moth-er who doesn't do gen. det., and therefore lived to annoy someone else. 

No such nonsense with this micro. Brindled Buff Agonopterix arenella was NFG in February, but that individual avoided the camera. This is our second.

So that's it for the first mothing quarter. I'm glad I've bothered to keep a tally of numbers - it's been quite entertaining. The next three months will be an order of magnitude busier, but I hope I can maintain the enthusiasm for recording. I kept score of the Bridport garden moths right from the very beginning in June 2022, then managed most of 2023 but ran out of steam sometime in August. That was it, and I never tried again after that. Anyway, we shall see.

Meanwhile, the porch light has already pulled in a NFG Garden Carpet...

Onwards and Upwards...

Wheatears are here already. Also Sand Martins and Little Ringed Plovers. Which is lovely of course, and a galvanising source of inspiration for the keen and eager. Sadly, that is no longer me, and unsurprisingly I have seen none of the above. The most exciting early-spring migrants I've seen thus far are these...

Lesser Black-backed Gulls on the Axe Estuary last Friday. The one on the left is comfortably dark enough to be an intermedius bird.

As well as a few of these beauties, the gull collection that afternoon included two Yellow-legged Gulls, a second-winter and a third-winter...

LBBGs: intermedius in the water, with graellsii coming in to land. Note contrast between black primaries and rest of upperwing (dark grey) on graellsii...

...whereas intermedius has uniformly black upperwing.

3w Yellow-legged Gull

3w YLG again

2w Yellow-legged Gull

2w YLG was quite a chunk.

2w YLG again.

Late this afternoon I visited again. Not so much for gulls, rather just a walk in the misty murk. At Colyford Common/Marsh, on the upper estuary, I jammed into a couple of Marsh Harriers. Almost a subliminal encounter, so I'm amazed there are any photos at all...

Male Marsh Harrier over Colyford Common...

...and again. Dismal light, high ISO...blah, blah...

This female Marsh Harrier was over Colyford Marsh, E of the tramline.

The 13 days since the previous post have seen the garden moth list increase to 58 and the 2026 list to 33. Among them was a new moth for me: Shoulder Stripe, an attractive species that I'd seen many times on other people's Bluesky posts but never in my trap. It was probably at the top of my springtime most-wanted list. Results so far this year have made me cautiously optimistic about the mothy prospects here in Axminster. Last night's mist and drizzle produced 45 moths of 15 species, a considerably higher tally than the Bridport garden ever managed in March. Anyway, here are the recent highlights...

Clouded Drab

Red-eyed Buff Agonopterix ocellana #2

Small Quaker (five so far)

Twin-spotted Quaker (seven so far)

Hebrew Character (14 since the first on 28/2)

Early Grey (19 since the first on 1/3)

The very lovely Oak Beauty (nine so far)

Brindled Pug - NFG last night, but already another this evening.

Shoulder Stripe

Spindle Moth Ypsolopha mucronella. Had just a single in Bridport I think.

Another Twin-spotted Quaker.

Water-dropwort Brown Depressaria daucella

A third Red-eyed Buff Agonopterix ocellata. That's two more than we managed in Bridport.

Early Thorn (five so far)

Angle Shades caterpillar. Still a moth, and a tick for the year list.

So yes, it feels like the mothing in our miniscule Axminster garden might turn out to be okay.

Onwards and upwards... 

From 31 to 46

Making arrangements for a funeral sent me to Newton Abbott last month. Instead of heading straight home afterwards, I grabbed a pub meal in Teignmouth, then drove to Kennford for this...

I'm not really a clubby sort of person, and didn't know anyone there, but enjoyed the presentations. The Recorder's Report included slides of moths new to Devon in 2025. Following a brief fanfare, flurry of party poppers and polite whoop-whooping, Mompha jurassicella made a dull, brown, unexciting appearance. 'Some new bloke in Axminster', said the recorder. 'Virtually Dorset actually, so doesn't really count...'

Just for the moment, I basically have my own page on the Devon Moths website...

The mothometer needle barely twitched in January. Just four moths, but two were new for the garden. One was Common Brindled Brown (strictly speaking, Agonopterix heracliana agg.) which is exactly what it says, i.e., common, but the other was Varied Tortrix (Acleris hastiana), a slightly more quality item. Also, singles of Winter Moth and Mottled Umber...

Varied Tortrix Acleris hastiana

Mottled Umber

Winter Moth

Weeks and weeks of meteorological direness finally relented a few days ago, and the trap has been out three times so far. The 23 moths of 13 species include 12 new for the garden (NFG), and a few have been really quite decent...

Chestnut - a common species at this time of year

Common Quaker - ditto above.

The rather lovely March Moth.

Pale Birch Tortrix Acleris logiana - just 26 Devon records up to end of 2025. Think I trapped just one of these in Bridport.

Dark-streaked Tortrix Acleris umbrana - Nationally Scarce A, but 239 Devon records up to end of 2025. Saw this species just once in Bridport too.

Tawny Pinion. A single Bridport record in March 2023 is my only previous encounter with this moth.

Dotted Border

Tawny Pinion again...

...and again.

Spring Harbinger (I hope so) Tortricodes alternella. I'm pretty sure this is a new moth for me. Can't find any record of catching it in the Bridport garden.

Spring Harbinger from the other side.

Oak Beauty - one of my favourite early moths. A stunner.

Talking of early moths...Early Moth.

Coastal Buff Agonopterix yeatiana - just one record in Bridport

Red-eyed Buff Agonopterix ocellana - ditto above.

This little collage reminds me that I also caught a Brindled Buff (Agonopterix arenella) by the porch light in early February but failed to get a pic.

So that's how the Axminster garden moth list went from 31 to 46.