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 8 May 2011

From the back garden - 07/05/11

Trapped in the garden last night on the off chance of seeing at last a few moths, was pleasantly surprised with a nice little catch after 2 hours from 9-11pm.

The rain held off luckily and just as I was packing up it started to drizzle.

Coleophora albicosta is a new moth for me, which was a nice addition.


07/05/11 - Bishop's Stortford - 125w MV Robinson Trap with vertical and horizontal white sheets.

Macro Moths

1x Green Silver-lines [NFY]
1x Marbled Minor sp. [NFY]
3x Bright-line Brown-eye [NFY]
1x Silver Y
2x Broken-barred Carpet
2x Common Swift
2x Brimstone
1x Red Twin-spot Carpet
1x Shuttle-shaped Dart
2x Common Pug


Green Silver-lines












Broken-barred Carpet









Bright-line Brown-eye














Micro Moths

1x Coleophora albicosta [NEW]
1x Argyrotaenia ljungiana
1x Epiphyas postvittana
1x Syndemis musculana
1x Epiblema cynosbatella


Coleophora albicosta









Epiphyas postvittana

4 comments:

  1. Nice one Ben, as is the previous post. Some cracking species there.
    PS : Can you take a look at a micro for me, when i update my blog, later. Cheers.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Ben, I position my trap on a flat sheet. Is there an advantage in having a vertical one too? Am I missing stuff...

    Cheers Stewart

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Stewart, i've always used a vertical and a flat sheet.
    It is particularly useful out in the woods as moth fly in at the same level as the hanging sheet, hit the sheet and plummet towards the trap (particularly noctuids) I've noticed my catch increase by about 20% just by doing this, try it out I would.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yep i'd use a vertical one to interecept moths flying in.

    ReplyDelete