An extremely hairy gold & khaki-coloured Great Prominent moth rests vertically on a densely textured black and grey furniture cover.

A ruddy, brown, & cream-coloured Red Twin-spot Carpet moth rests vertically on a grey-green egg box.

A smoky grey Muslin Moth shows off it's amazingly pennate antennae as it rests on the pale wooden floor of a moth trap.

An unsurprising 8/6 in the Upton garden trap this morning, after a cold & clear night, did however include 3 NFY species: Red Twin-spot Carpet, Muslin Moth, & a brace of Great Prominent #TeamMoth @dorsetmoths.bsky.social

Caterpillars are about! Elophila nymphaeata
(Brown China-mark) in its home made of pond weed leaf cut-outs and Eriocrania sangii (Purple Spring Jewel) in a leaf mine on birch on Dorset heathlands on Friday #teammoth @dorsetmoths.bsky.social

Found on heathland today is this a grey scalloped bar ? Seems early ? @dorsetmoths.bsky.social @lytchettbirder.bsky.social

An incredibly hairy and multicoloured (buff, orange, black, blue-grey, and white) Oak Eggar caterpillar rests horizontally on a narrow pale brown stem, with bright green leaves and shadows visible in the background.

A funky Oak Eggar caterpillar at St Aldhelm's Head this morning #TeamMoth @dorsetmoths.bsky.social

A brown and cream Lesser Swallow Prominent moth rests vertically on a grey-green egg box.

A Chinese Character moth, patterned like a bird dropping, rests horizontally on a scratched perspex sheet.

Easily the best night of the yr so far in the Upton garden trap, with 48/19 this morning incl'g Lesser Swallow Prom't, & Chinese Character, as well as Brindled, Oak-tree, & Common Pugs, plus a single Diamondback moth on the migrant front #TeamMoth @dorsetmoths.bsky.social @migrantmothuk.bsky.social

Weymouth: Three more Small Mottled Willow last night and at least 6 Diamond-backs @migrantmothuk.bsky.social
16 nfy over the last 2 nights, 10 of which were last night. The most photogenic was this Esperia sulphurella, lit up as though its covered in fairground lights!

This completely weird looking Small Mottled Willow from the trap today, I've never seen one like it. I've just been checking for other possibilities, I did look at Spodoptera frugiperda, which we might expect one day, but pretty sure its not that. Just aberrant I guess! @migrantmothuk.bsky.social

Diamond-back and Small Mottled Willow from last nights Broadwey Dorset trap.

Nice photos Martin (and more than I’ve been getting lately). Small Engrailed and Engrailed are now considered to be a single species.

A largely grey-coloured Early Tooth-striped moth rests vertically on the pale wooden inner wall of a moth trap.

A grey and white banded Lunar Marbled Brown moth rests vertically on the pale wooden inner wall of a moth trap.

A khaki and black striped/speckled Brindled Beauty moth sits, facing right, on the pale pink-coloured palm of a man's hand.

A respectable 14/9 in the Upton garden trap this morning, after another cool & (mostly) clear night, incl'd a subtly marked (NFG) Early Tooth-striped, plus my first Lunar Marbled Brown & Brindled Beauty of the year #TeamMoth @dorsetmoths.bsky.social

A brown and white marked, arrowhead-shaped, March Moth rests just off the vertical on a grey-brown wooden fence panel.

A somewhat measly 11/5 on a cool night in the Upton garden did aptly include this northwards pointing (NFY) March Moth #TeamMoth @dorsetmoths.bsky.social

Introducing Common Spring Moths Oak Beauty Biston strataria - Dorset 23.3.26 If you are new to moth recording then Spring is a great time to start. Moth numbers are manag...

Spring is an ideal time to start meeting moths. Here are the common ones.
Blog at vitrealis.blogspot.com/2026/03/intr...

@dorsetmoths.bsky.social
@dorsetbutterflies.bsky.social
#teammoth #moths #naturewriting

A Frosted Green moth, resting vertically and viewed from above, sits on a grey-green egg box.

A worn Calybites phasianipennella micromoth, facing right in profile, rests on the pale wooden floor of a moth trap.

28/9 in the Upton garden trap this morning incl'd a NFG Frosted Green (always nice to see) & my first spring record of (an admittedly quite worn) Calybites phasianipennella, the latter looking very different from the zebra-striped ind's I see here later in the yr #TeamMoth @dorsetmoths.bsky.social

Hebrew Character moth. Viewed from directly overhead to show the intricate markings including the dark saddle mark.

Hebrew Character moth viewed from head-on. Showing the fluffy head and rocking some striking "eyebrows'.

Very excited to get my mothing year underway with my first moth trap for 2026 (Weymouth).
Although just four moths awaited me this morning: 3 Hebrew Character and a Common Quaker, I really enjoyed studying them closely to take in all the details.
Beautiful.
#teammoth
@dorsetmoths.bsky.social

An Early Grey moth rests vertically on a grey-green egg box

Two Common Quakers rest adjacent to one another on the pale wooden floor of a moth trap

A Hebrew Character rests horizontally on the pale wooden outer wall of a moth trap

A Grey Shoulder-knot rests vertically on a grey-green egg box

There've been few opportunities to run the Upton garden trap so far this yr, so the 21/8 recorded this morning during its 2nd outing produced several NFY spp, incl'g a lovely Grey Shoulder-knot, Early Grey, Common Quaker, & Hebrew Character, plus Ypsolopha ustella #TeamMoth @dorsetmoths.bsky.social

Oak Beauty moth

Dotted Chestnut moth

First #mothtrap of the year yielded 10 moths of 7sp in my Corfe Castle garden. Two stunners this Oak Beauty and Dotted Chestnut. Good to be up and running for 2026 season. @dorsetbutterflies.bsky.social @dorsetmoths.bsky.social @savebutterflies.bsky.social

An excessively furry, grey, black, and rufous-coloured Fox Moth caterpillar rests horizontally on a grey garden fence, with dead grass stems and green leaves forming a blurred backdrop.

This fabulously furry Fox Moth caterpillar was making the most of the sunshine on my Upton garden fence earlier today #TeamMoth @dorsetmoths.bsky.social

Weymouth: Only one moth in the trap, but what a cracker it was. Small Brindled Beauty, new for here and miles from the known closest ones. Best from a look at the Trout Farm was a flock of ~150 Linnets. Part of flock in the photo. @dorsetmoths.bsky.social

Bulb type affects #moth species composition. Interesting findings from @gardenmothscheme.bsky.social data.

@dorsetmoths.bsky.social
@savebutterflies.bsky.social

resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/JXBTVF...

An elongated & brown-marked Varied Ochre moth (Ypsolopha ustella) rests horizontally on a dark brown wooden skirting board, set against a paler brown door frame.

A brown-marked Bittersweet Moth (Scrobipalpa costella) rests vertically on a painted white coping.

The first Upton garden session of the 2026 moth year produced single Ypsolopha ustella & Scrobipalpa costella this morning (2/2), albeit with both ultimately being chased around the kitchen for a photograph after escaping from an absolutely sodden trap #TeamMoth @dorsetmoths.bsky.social

Canary-shouldered Thorn moth

CALL FOR 2025 RECORDS!
The moth traps are quiet, so it's the ideal time to submit your 2025 Dorset (VC9) moth records. More info about this at dorsetmoths.co.uk/help.php.
To be included in the 2025 Annual Report, records should be received by Saturday 28 February 2026.
@dorsetmoths.bsky.social

Back in early May I found this larval case on Hawthorn at Lankham Bottom reserve in Dorset. It proved to be Coleophora spinella (Apple & Plum Case-bearer) - only the second time I’ve recorded this species. #teammoth @dorsetmoths.bsky.social

A brown and white-marked December Moth rests on the pale wooden wall of a moth trap, viewed from above.

A brown and white-marked December Moth rests on the pale wooden wall of a moth trap, viewed from the front.

A fabulously furry December Moth (one of my favourite species) was new for the Upton garden trap this morning, alongside a single Tachystola, after what will almost certainly be its last outing in 2025 - it's been an absolutely fantastic suburban mothing year #TeamMoth @dorsetmoths.bsky.social

Losses of specialist and expansion of thermophilic generalist macro-moths in nature reserves of Central Europe Ongoing environmental change has caused significant modifications in the diversity, abundance and community composition of insects across Central Euro…

Losses of specialist and expansion of thermophilic generalist macro-moths in nature reserves of Central Europe: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

National Trust launches fundraiser to help buy land around Cerne Giant Deal expected to pave way for further scientific study, boost conservation and open up access to Dorset chalk figure

Excellent news - Giant Hill is a great place for butterflies and day-flying moths.

#teammoth

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Four new species for Dorset (and a belated one for Britain) are among the highlights of the Dorset Moths Annual Report 2024. Free PDF downland from dorsetmoths.co.uk

#teammoth
@dorsetmoths.bsky.social
@dorsetbutterflies.bsky.social
@migrantmothuk.bsky.social
@savebutterflies.bsky.social

For 30 years there has been one species firmly at the top of my hit-list: Crimson Speckled. 30 years ago they had an almost mythical status, now more regular of course. So I was beyond elated to find this in one of the traps this morning!!! @migrantmothuk.bsky.social @dorsetmoths.bsky.social

Gem

Olive-tree Pearl - Palpita vitrealis

A single Gem was the best migrant moth last night here in West Dorset, UK. Also three Olive-tree Pearl, 11 Rusty-dot Pearl and 4 White-point.
@dorsetmoths.bsky.social
@dorsetbutterflies.bsky.social
@migrantmothuk.bsky.social
#teammoth

A Palpita vitrealis (Olive-tree Pearl) rests on the pale wooden inner wall of a moth trap.

A Golden Twin-spot rests on a grey-green egg box.

A Dark Chestnut rests on a grey-green egg box.

A welcome 26/11 in the Upton garden trap after a wet night incl'd 5 Palpita vitrealis, 2 RDP & my 7th Golden Twin-spot of the yr, plus another well-marked Plusiid that shot out as soon as I opened it, which I really hope was a Silver Y... #TeamMoth @dorsetmoths.bsky.social @migrantmothuk.bsky.social

Envy alert!