Back to trapping and a super catch!

A nice and mild night on Monday prompted me to light the trap up ready for some moths.

Rain was forecast at some point, but it was that light mizzly stuff, and with high humidity and lows of 15 degrees, it was pretty good. 

35 species was the best October night for species ever, yet more records being broken!

Not huge numbers of anything, but there were 3 new species for the year which was most pleasing, unfortunately the November Moth scarpered before its photo, flighty blooming things!

Late records continue with my latest ever Ditula angustiorana (x2) & Lyonetia clerkella.

 

A couple more mild nights approaching so we'll see what turns up. 

 

Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 709 species 

 

12/10/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths 

Feathered Thorn 1 [NFY]
Green-brindled Crescent 1 [NFY]
November Moth sp 1 [NFY]
Barred Sallow 
Beaded Chestnut 
Black Rustic 
Blair's Shoulder-knot 
Blue Underwing 
Cypress Carpet 
Cypress Pug
Dark Chestnut 
Double-striped Pug 
Least Carpet 
Lunar Underwing 
Mallow
Merveille du Jour
Plumed Fan-foot 
Red-line Quaker 
Satellite 
Scarce Bordered Straw
Square-spot Rustic 
Turnip Moth 
Vestal 
Vine's Rustic 
White-point 
Willow Beauty 

Micro Moths

Acleris rhombana
Blastobasis lacticolella 
Ditula angustiorana 
Endotricha flammealis 
Epiphyas postvittana 
Eudonia angustea 
Lyonetia clerkella
Phyllonorycter messaniella 
Scrobipalpa ocellatella 
Udea ferrugalis
 

Green-brindled Crescent

Feathered Thorn

Ditula angustiorana

Dark Chestnut

Lyonetia clerkella

No Trap Needed

Even without putting the trap on, moths can not escape me noticing them. 

A lovely fresh Mompha epilobiella found by my son crawling along the dining room floor last night, no doubt hatched indoors somewhere as they quite often do.

Photo, then released outdoors where he should belong :) 

Little chance of trapping until this wind abates. 

 

Mompha epilobiella

 

A couple of year-listers before the wet and cold set in

Tuesday night was the last fairly favourable night, with lows of around 14 degrees but still holding up at 19c by 11pm, the trap was fairly busy with a good variety of moths, and even some most welcome micro moths.

No time to list everything but below I have added the highlights of the night.

Acleris sparsana was new for the year, and Epinotia sordidana was only the 2nd garden record after adding it to the site list only last year.

The 2nd Dusky-lemon Sallow for the year was a good one to get also, and a very fresh Dark Chestnut was most welcome. 

Cambs latest ever Maiden's Blush was noteworthy, although that might be beaten? Previous latest was September the 30th. 

Too cold now and a bit damp, I will wait for a better night I think. 

 

Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 706 species 

 

06/10/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Cypress Carpet 1

Dark Chestnut 1 

Dusky-lemon Sallow 1 

Maiden's Blush 1 

Plumed Fan-foot 1

Red-green Carpet 1  

 

Micro Moths

 

Acleris sparsana 1 [NFY]

Epinotia sordidana 1 [NFY]

Phyllonorycter messaniella 1

 

Plumed Fan-foot

Cypress Carpet

Dark Chestnut

Dusky-lemon Sallow

Epinotia sordidana

Maiden's Blush

Phyllonorycter messaniella

 

 

 

Brindled Green

A short post about last nights catch. 

Less moths about and a bit cooler as well, but a good variety of late Summer early Autumn species turning up.

The best and only new one of the night was a rather smart and very lively Brindled Green, an annual species here but in low numbers.

 

Other highlights included a smashing Beaded Chestnut amongst 9 others, and two Acleris species treated to a couple of close-ups.

 

A very warm night tonight, and as I write it is still 19 degrees. 

 

Only highlights listed below. 

 

Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 704 species 

 

04/10/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Brindled Green 1 [NFY]

Beaded Chestnut 10 

 

Micro Moths

 

Acleris rhombana 1

Acleris schalleriana 1  

 

Brindled Green

Acleris rhombana

Acleris schalleriana

Beaded Chestnut

 

Dusky by night, misty by morning

A cold night and down to 9 degrees overnight, with a thick mist by the morning. 19 species was still above average for the time of year and conditions.

Best moth was a cracking Dusky-lemon Sallow, only the 4th garden record and generally a once a year moth here.

A Scarce Bordered Straw was nice to see as well having not seen one for a few weeks, and it had been over a month since I last saw a Plutella xylostella in the garden, normally a regular moth this time of year.

A couple of milder nights approaching so hopefully I can score some more nice species. 

 

Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 703 species 

 

03/10/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Dusky-lemon Sallow 1 [NFY]

Scarce Bordered Straw 1 

 

Micro Moths

 

Plutella xylostella 1 

 

Scarce Bordered Straw

Dusky-lemon Sallow

700 species and hitting the mothing red-line

I have now hit a yearly all time high of 700 species, and that's probably the absolute maximum that my garden should/could attain. It was very apt that the 700th species was a Red-line Quaker, literally on the limit!

The 701st species also turned up with a fine Blair's Shoulder-knot.

Other good species included another two Vestals, the 7th of this week alone! Formerly rare here with single records in only 3 of the last 6 years.

Lunar Underwing was most prevalent, with Small Mottled Willow close behind, and Deep-brown Dart are having a really good year, with 4 to 5 most evenings.

A particularly nice example with dark markings was worthy of a quick snap. 

 

Endotricha flammealis go on and on these days, so it was no surprise to record 2 overnight, such a delicate and colourful little micro moth. 

The best moth last night though was a glorious Gold Spot, a moth I missed out on last year, a rare moth in my garden, moth no.702!

 

Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 702 species 

 

02/10/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Blair's Shoulder-knot 1 [NFY]

Gold Spot 1 [NFY]

Red-line Quaker 1 [NFY] 

Lunar Underwing 12

Vestal 2 

 

Micro Moths 

 

Acleris rhombana 1

Endotricha flammealis 2 

 

Blair's Shoulder-knot

Endotricha flammealis

Gold Spot

Lunar Underwing

Red-line Quaker

Vestals

 

Some late moths on the last of the month

Some late moths arrived last night to the trap, there was a late rain shower and the patio was soaked by 10pm, so I turned the trap off and went through the trap.

In the bottom was a Southern Wainscot, my latest record to date. The latest for the county appears to be on the 3rd of October, 12 years ago, so only a few days shy of being the latest.

Then whilst I was putting the trap back together, I noticed a Pyralid on the vane. A very late Acrobasis suavella was potted up, and what was to be the latest for the county, by over two weeks! (Previous latest 13th of September).

We run again tonight on a drier but much cooler night. Not expecting much at all!

 

Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 699 species 

 

30/09/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Southern Wainscot 1

 

Micro Moths 

 

Acrobasis suavella 1

 

Southern Wainscot

Acrobasis suavella

 

 

 

A warm but breezy night with early morning rain

A good catch last night with plenty of moths come the morning.

Unfortunately a rain shower made some moths stick to the patio, as I was up late at half 6 instead of around 5am (thinking I would miss the shower if I had actually got up in time).

Some migration still happening here, with 2 more Vestals (One each of brown and pink forms), Rush Veneer and a couple of Silver Y's. I haven't seen a Diamond-back for a few week now though.

Two new species were potted up.

The first is always a pleasure to get, the beautiful Merveille du Jour. I thought this may have been my earliest record, but it isn't. Although it is only my 3rd ever September record of this species.

The Mallow was the other newbie, a rather large Geometridae that is synonymous with the start of Autumn and very consistent with its yearly arrival time.

Other bits and bobs not seen for a few weeks included Spruce Carpet, Mottled Rustic and a tiny Caloptilia rufipennella.

Just one more species to go until the big 700! 

Nights will start to get cooler again as we head in to the weekend.  

 

Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 699 species 

 

29/09/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Mallow 1 [NFY]

Merveille du Jour 1 [NFY]

Beaded Chestnut 3

Mottled Rustic 1

Spruce Carpet 1 

 

Micro Moths 

 

Caloptilia rufipennella 1

 

Spruce Carpet

Beaded Chestnut

Caloptilia rufipennella

Mallow

Merveille du Jour

Mottled Rustic

 

Warm but still fairly quiet

A warm start to the night last night, with temperatures still in the high teens at 11pm. This morning it dropped to a fairly pleasant 14 degrees.

All that warmth and there still wasn't a great deal, maybe 30 moths at best.

At least there was some interest though and with 1 new species for the year in the shape of a Brown-spot Pinion.

A second Palpita vitrealis was good to see, and still getting some lovely forms of Beaded Chestnut and Lunar Underwings, some real orange specimens turning up last night of both. 

Average weather tonight, but tomorrow night looks rather spectacular for the time of year. 

 

Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 697 species 

 

27/09/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Brown-spot Pinion 1 [NFY]

Beaded Chestnut 2

Lunar Underwing 5

 

Micro Moths 

 

Palpita vitrealis 1  

 

Palpita vitrealis

Beaded Chestnut

Brown-spot Pinion

Lunar Underwing

 

Very quiet and cool

Late moths continue with Small Dusty Waves turning up last night and a Nutmeg, but very quiet otherwise and less than 10 moths up until 11pm, which prompted me to switch the trap off.

Best moth was a rarely seen female Wax Moth. I record loads of the males, but females always feel a bit more special, and chunkier too!

I was asked a few years back to provide several photo for the then, upcoming Pyralid and Crambid Moths of the British Isles. One species that was required was a female Wax Moth, luckily in the archives, I did manage to source one for inclusion.

Two cooler nights coming up so might not bother.

Tuesday night looks promising though. 

 

Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 696 species 

 

26/09/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Micro Moths

Wax Moth (Galleria mellonella) 1 Female

 

 

Twin Beaded

Not much to report recently.

Last night I did record the nearly all of the expected set of Noctua species which included Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing, Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing, Lesser Yellow Underwing, Large Yellow Underwing & Lunar Yellow Underwing.

Late moths included Beautiful Hook-tip, Wax Moth and several Brimstone Moths.

A north wind has hampered the catch, and lows of 10-13 degrees is sub-optimal for here. 

On Thursday night, a duo of Beaded Chestnut turned up, the 696th species for the year.

That is all for now. 

 

Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 696 species 

 

24/09/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Beaded Chestnut 2 [NFY]

 

Beaded Chestnut 1

Beaded Chestnut 2

 

A warm if a bit breezy night

Tuesday night saw the towel removed from the top of the trap, egg trays placed around the base, and the plug firmly seated into the outdoor socket.

All was set for a decent night, and indeed it was!

With lows of 17 degrees, it wasn't so much a busy night, but there were plenty of expected species in good numbers and several new for year species as well. 

Migrants were also very welcome, with 2 each a piece of Vestal and Crocidosema plebejana, the latter only the 2nd and 3rd for the garden, in fact all 3 were from this year.

Dewick's Plusia was back after a few months holiday, and there were 3 interesting Coleophora potted up for further investigation.

Edging ever closer to the 700 species for the year mark! 

 

Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 695 species 

 

22/09/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Barred Sallow 1 [NFY]

Black Rustic 1 [NFY] 

Pine Carpet 1 [NFY] 

Dewick's Plusia 1

Vestal 2 

Macro Moths

Coleophora sp 3 (tbc) 

Crocidosema plebejana 2

 

Vestal

Barred Sallow

Black Rustic

Coleophora sp

Crocidosema plebejana

Dewick's Plusia

Pine Carpet

Warmer and calmer, things improve

A marked improvement to the trap on Monday night, after quite a few nights dark.

It was certainly worth trying once more, with lows of 15 degrees and a more humid feel to the air.

Not huge numbers of anything, but some lovely early Autumn species starting to show now.

Two Sallows, one of each colour form was a nice pair, yet another Vestal, a year first Deep-brown Dart, and a couple of decent micros with Acleris rhombana reappearing and possible Spilonota laricana which will be retained for dissection, a species which isn't on the garden list. 

A season first Black-spotted Chestnut made its earliest appearance.

More of the same to come hopefully.

 

Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 692 species 

 

21/09/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Deep-brown Dart 1 [NFY] 

Sallow 2 [NFY] 

Black-spotted Chestnut 1

Vestal 1 

Macro Moths

Acleris rhombana 1

Spilonota laricana pos (tbc)

 

Vestal

Acleris rhombana

Black-spotted Chestnut

Deep-brown Dart

Sallow and Sallow f flavescens

Sallow

Spilonota laricana pos