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

Friday, 9 July 2010

Canvey Island - Part 1 : Macro Moths - 08th July

Last night was the night of all nights! very warm all day and the evening was dead calm on the edge of the mouth of the Thames down on Canvey Island, it really is a strange and almost messy place being made up of huge areas of waste ground but it has to have something good as i has been awarded the SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) and Moths from what I had heard from my friends Graham Bailey & Don Down, were no exception!
We started off walking through the rough ground and then set about getting the lights on.
We had Don's 125w MV bulb on a tripod with sheets and egg trays around the base, Graham set his dual 40w Actinic and halogen combination up and I had a 26w Daylight bulb attached to a pole, dug into the ground and sheets placed underneath.

Clear skies prevailed but this did not affect the catch, estimates of 1500 Moths wouldn't be far wrong...they were literally everywhere!

For now until I get the complete list from Graham, here is the new Macro Moth species for me, the Micro Moths will follow in my next post!

Enjoy!

Macro Moths

(1) Garden Tiger (NEW) - Came in just as we were packing up at 2am! listed as 'Common' but in serious decline.










(15+) Kent Black Arches (NEW) - A Nationally Scarce B species, pretty regular at Canvey.












(5+) Slender Pug (NEW) - Abit of a melanistic look to this one and many found on the night.








(1) Shaded Pug (NEW) - A local species.










(10+) Cream-bordered Green Pea (NEW) - A cracking little Moth reminiscent of the Green Oak Totrix (Tortrix viridana) A Nationally Scarce B species.








(1) Round-winged Muslin (NEW) - A local species that feeds on lichens and moss.










(3+) Southern Wainscot (NEW) - Note the 'pointy' forewings, distinctive of this species, which also can be seperated from 'Common' and 'Smoky' by the Head-band marking.























(5+) Obscure Wainscot (NEW) - A local Wainscot species.











Part 2 coming soon!
Posted by Bennyboymothman at 19:55

2 comments:

  1. Broom Birder9 July 2010 at 22:02

    What a night! You must be well happy with that lot!
    M

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bennyboymothman9 July 2010 at 22:16

    Very very happy, I doubt i'll top that. Cheers.

    ReplyDelete

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