Welcome

Hello and welcome to my moth Blog. I now reside in a small village in East Cambridgeshire called Fordham. My Blog's aim is to promote and encourage others to participate in the wonderful hobby that is Moth-trapping.
Moth records are vital for building a picture of our ecosystem around us, as they really are the bottom of the food chain. They are an excellent early indicator of how healthy a habitat is. I openly encourage people to share their findings via social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter & Instagram.
So why do we do it? well for some people it is to get an insight into the world of Moths, for others it is to build a list of species much like 'Twitching' in the Bird world. The reason I do it....you just never know what you might find when you open up that trap! I hope to show what different species inhabit Cambridgeshire and neighbouring counties.
On this Blog you will find up-to-date records and pictures.
I run a trap regularly in my garden and also enjoy doing field trips to various localities over several different counties.
Please also check out the links in the sidebar to the right for other people's Blogs and informative Websites.
Thanks for looking and happy Mothing!

KEY

NFY = New Species For The Year
NFG = New Species For The Garden
NEW! = New Species For My Records

Any Species highlighted in RED signifies a totally new species for my records.

If you have any questions or enquiries then please feel free to email me
Contact Email : bensale@rocketmail.com

My Latest Notables and Rarities

Sunday 16 August 2009

Catch Report - Saturday 15th August 2009

Warm and mild last night, this morning abit cooler and a heavy dew, not as many Moths about now, but what made up for it was the quality of the species.
The catch included my second ever Knot Grass & Tawny Speckled Pug a new for year Dark Sword-grass and another first for the Garden a Scarce Bordered Straw which certainly according to my references is a scarce migrant to Essex, especially this far North West!

Catch Report - Hatfield Broad Oak - 160w MBT Robinson Trap


Scarce Bordered Straw








Dark Sword-grass








Tawny Speckled Pug










Macro Moths


1x Scarce Bordered Straw [NFG]
1x Dark Sword-grass [NFY]
1x Tawny Speckled Pug [NFY]
1x Svensson's Copper Underwing [NFY]
5x Riband Wave
1x Garden Carpet
5x Brimstone Moth
1x Early Thorn
9x Willow Beauty
1x Pale Prominent
2x Shuttle-shaped Dart
8x Flame Shoulder
5x Large Yellow Underwing
12x Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing
4x Small Square-spot
1x Square-spot Rustic
1x Knot Grass
7x Setaceous Hebrew Character
1x Six-striped Rustic
2x Marbled Beauty
1x Copper Underwing
2x Mouse Moth
5x Straw Underwing
1x Dun-bar
1x Marbled Minor
1x Cloaked Minor
1x Common Rustic
2x Uncertain
2x Vine's Rustic
1x Common Wainscot
1x Silver Y
1x Straw Dot



Micro Moths


2x Agriphila tristella
3x Agriphila geniculea
2x Catoptria falsella
3x Mother of Pearl Pleuroptya ruralis
1x Trachycera advenella

5 comments:

  1. A couple of nice migrants there, Ben.
    I had 2 Svenssons last night.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cheers Dean, had a few Copper's but no Svenssons yet, how do you distinguish between the two, do you do the palps and underwing?

    ReplyDelete
  3. The palps, Ben. Copper Underwing is a scarce species up here, with just a few records.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm nut sure that the palps is 100% realaible.

    I've not had a Scarce Bordered Straw this year, after 163 in 2006, only one in 2007 and none in 2008, glad to know they still exist.
    I've started a new daily list, and identification blog here:

    http://tonysmothstoidentiy.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  5. 163! blimey thats some migration!

    will check out your Blog.

    ReplyDelete