David Parnaby

Brilliant thanks. Two firsts for Fair Isle in consecutive days in the trap!

And I think it was running as well, so it's a different shape! Sorry, I really should have at least mentioned that in the ALT text!

Thanks. Both the same moth, but the second photo is it in a pot.

This micro on the outside of the trap wasn't one I recognised. Obsidentify suggests Bactra furfurana, which seems a good fit, but the only Bactra currently on the Fair Isle list is lancealana. Any thoughts on the ID please? #TeamMoth

Bedstraw Hawk-moth the absolute star of our trap in Fair Isle last night, about the 15th record for the Isle. Technically the highlight though was Common Carpet; first for Fair Isle and just the 6th for VC112 Shetland. Overall 234/19, dominated by 114 Diamond-back Moths.
#TeamMoth #MigrantMothUK

Thanks Steve. Similar thoughts on the local WhatsApp group so far. DSP would be just the 4th Fair Isle record and the first since 2008.

I thought this pug from our trap in Fair Isle last night would be Juniper Pug (a resident in the Isle) but Obsidentify is very confident it's Double-striped, which would be a vagrant here. I don't have enough experience to be sure, so any help greatly appreciated thanks. #ukmoths #TeamMoth

Foula viewed from our garden in Fair Isle last night. #Shetland

Some uncropped images of Killer Whales passing Landberg, Fair Isle this evening. I love this place! #CetaceansUK #Shetland

Midsummer is generally a quiet time for new passerine arrivals in Fair Isle, so there are worse birds to have hanging around the garden than this male Eastern Subalpine Warbler, which was first seen on 17th June. #BirdingScotland

I will never not like a numeral followed by it written out in brackets afterwards!

All sorts! Jam, sugar and maybe a tot of spiced rum is a basic, but I'll mash in any fruit that's gone over. This batch has a pot of mincemeat that didn't make it into pies at Christmas!

Female Large White butterfly

A selection of moths coming to sugar, including Bright-line Brown-eye, Clouded-bordered Brindle, a couple of Angle Shades and several Dark Arches

Our first Large White and Magpie Moth of the year gave some promise for the night, but a bright, clear sky meant the trap was pretty quiet. A bit more activity around the sugar, although not much outside of the expected species other than the lingering Bright-line Brown-eye #TeamMoth

Trying to key out some lacewings from the garden. Chrysoperla carnea agg. I would say, but not sure I can narrow it down further? Would it usually be necessary to prepare it as a specimen for getting to species level, try for better photos, or is there detail I can get with a hand lens? #insects

Pearly Underwing, netted at Hebe. Shirva, Fair Isle 24.06.2025. The second Fair Isle spring record (the other was earlier this year), only the fifth year in which the species has been recorded in the Isle.

Bright-line Brown-eye. Attracted to sugar, Shirva. 24.06.2025 (14th Fair Isle record)

Smoky Wainscot, Fair Isle. 24th June 2025. Earliest FI record.

Northern Rustic, one of four - the first of the year for Fair Isle. 24.06.2025

Last night was a good one for #TeamMoth in Fair Isle. Vagrants represented by Pearly Underwing and Bright-line Brown-eye, earliest ever Smoky Wainscot and first Northern Rustics of the year. Also 4 Dark Sword-grass, several Silver Y and Diamond-back Moths.
@migrantmothuk.bsky.social

From my experience of them in Fair Isle I'd say you're right about it not being typical habitat. They much prefer Bonxie colonies.

Aethes cnicana. 3rd record for Fair Isle

Copulating Clouded-bordered Brindles

L to r: Angle Shades, Dark Sword-grass and Clouded-bordered Brindle on sugar

Fair Isle form of Wood Mouse

A beautiful night in Fair Isle. Highlights were the Isle's 3rd record of Aethes cnicana, 7 Clouded-bordered Brindle, 4 Dark Sword-grass, stacks of Silver Y, Nightjar and Fair Isle Mouse feeding in the garden and a wander out to Raeva for my first Storm Petrel of the year.
#TeamMoth

Still waiting for it to get dark in Fair Isle, but Clouded-bordered Brindle on the sugar, Blastobasis lacticolella, Silver Ground Carpets, Map-winged Swifts and loads of Silver Y on the wing already and the trap on for its shortest run of the year! #TeamMoth

I'll start to get excited when we appear on your map! A couple of Dark Sword-grass on sugar last night, but we've got to wait until about midnight until it's dark enough for moths to fly. The longer nights start from tomorrow though!

ESW was 212, GRW 213, but I found a Nightjar in the garden last spring, so that's just a croft year tick (yes, we keep that list as well!).

A remarkable 24 hours for the croft. After yesterdays ESW, a Nightjar was feeding in the garden as I set the moth trap at around 11.30 last night, then this morning, Susannah found the wandering Great Reed Warbler around our ponds. Is spring in Fair Isle done yet? Maybe not... #ukbirding #pwc2025

Eastern Subalpine Warbler in the garden today was a nice little bonus whilst working at the byre. Species number 212 for the croft list and some useful points for #pwc2025. #ukbirding

Susannah found this rather splendid Icterine Warbler at the Fair Isle Primary School today and it even gave a few bursts of song in the occasional sunny spells. My first of the year (I must get my #PWC2025 list up to date...).

Quite! Peered over a cliff as we were searching for it and it was perched a few metres down staring up at me. A rather startling moment (in a good way!).

Pallas's Reed Bunting! The first for the UK was found at Fair Isle on the day I was born, so I've always wanted to see one here. I now owe Alex a pint after he found this gorgeous peerie thing in the Wirvie Burn this morning! #BirdingScotland

Great stuff, congratulations. Male Collared Flycatchers are only available in absolutely stonking!

The northerly breeze is picking up and dropping the temperature, but the sugar has attracted 7 Angle Shades, 3 Dark Sword-grass and my first Setaceous Hebrew Character of the year (a species unknown in the spring in Fair Isle until 2024). #TeamMoth

A few nice birds in recent days. Buzzard (photo from Tarryfield where it was heading north, but a call to Susannah got it on the croft list) and Bee-eater (a Fair Isle tick for me and, in the last image, also an addition to the croft list, which now stands at 210). My #PWC2025 list is now 116.

Black-fronted Straw (Cochylichroa atricapitana). Shirva, Fair Isle. 12.05.2025. First record for Shetland.

Netted Pug. Shirva, Fair Isle.

Marbled Coronet. Shorva, Fair Isle.

Some decent mothing weather in Fair Isle has seen a few good records, including a lot of earliest ever dates. A mild, calm and foggy night on Monday was perfect and highlights were Shetland's first Black- fronted Straw and a Fair Isle record count of 32 Marbled Coronets (IDs in Alt text). #teammoth

Mothing in Fair Isle is very slow in the spring. Apart from a couple of White-shouldered House Moths, the only thing in the trap this morning was this rather lovely Brindled Ochre. #TeamMoth