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

Tuesday 28 June 2011

Shock Macro moth discovery

Had an exciting shock this morning on opening the trap, near the bottom I found a Small Marbled, a Hertfordshire County second (last one was in 2008) and a rare migrant with about 20 or so records per year for the UK. You can easily see it could be overlooked for a Tortrix Moth.
This may have flown from as far away as North Africa! although probably more likely, North Spain/South France which is still an immense distance for such a tiny moth! Over the frickin moon :)

I've still yet to tally the catch (like yesterday evenings catch which is scribbled down on a notepad) but it is well in excess of 130 species, under perfect conditions last night.


Catch Report - 27/06/11 - 1x 125w MV Robinson Trap - Farmland/back garden

Macro Moths (81 Species)

1x Small Marbled [NEW!]
7x Leopard Moth
1x Common Emerald
4x Blood-vein
4x Small Fan-footed Wave
2x Dwarf Cream Wave
1x Small Dusty Wave
8x Riband Wave
1x Large Twin-spot Carpet
2x Silver-ground Carpet
2x Common Carpet
1x Yellow Shell
2x Barred Straw
3x July Highflyer
2x Grey Pug
2x Green Pug
3x Small Yellow Wave
1x Clouded Border
1x Scorched Carpet
12x Latticed Heath
1x Brown Silver-line
1x Scorched Wing
4x Brimstone
1x Lilac Beauty
1x Scalloped Oak
5x Swallow-tailed Moth
4x Peppered Moth
6x Mottled Beauty
1x Engrailed
1x Common White Wave
1x Common Wave
2x Clouded Silver
3x Light Emerald
1x Privet Hawk-moth
5x Elephant Hawk-moth
1x Iron Prominent
1x Pebble Prominent
1x Maple Prominent
6x Buff-tip
1x Yellow-tail
3x Brown-tail
7x Scarce Footman
18x Common Footman
1x White Ermine
2x Cinnabar
1x Short-cloaked Moth
1x Turnip Moth
3x Heart & Club
26x Heart & Dart
9x Flame
7x Flame Shoulder
2x Large Yellow Underwing
1x Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing
2x Ingrailed Clay
10x Setaceous Hebrew Character
2x Triple-spotted Clay
29x Double Square-spot
3x Nutmeg
14x Dot Moth
1x Bright-line Brown-eye
1x Brown-line Bright-eye
4x Smoky Wainscot
3x Common Wainscot
4x Poplar Grey
1x Grey Dagger
8x Brown Rustic
3x Dun-bar
22x Dark Arches
12x Light Arches
1x Slender Brindle
4x Marbled Minor
1x Small Dotted Buff
17x Uncertain
1x Rustic
5x Mottled Rustic
9x Beautiful Hook-tip
2x Straw Dot
1x Waved Black
3x Snout
1x Fan-foot
2x Small Fan-foot

Small Marbled










Micro Moths (30 Species)


4x Mompha ochraceella
2x Metzneria lappella
5x Bramble Shoot Moth Epiblema uddmanniana
9x Crambus perlella
10x Udea olivalis
3x Scoparia ambigualis
4x Scoparia pyralella
1x Small Magpie Eurrhypara hortulata
1x Blastodacna hellerella
2x Conobathra repandana
5x Dipleurina lacustrata
1x Eudonia pallida
2x Crambus pascuella
27x Chrysoteuchia culmella
1x Elachista argentella
2x Cochylis atricapitana
1x Emmelina monodactyla
3x White Plume Moth Pterophorus
2x Udea olivalis
2x Brown House-moth Hofmannophila pseudospretella
8x Celypha lacunana
2x Light Brown Apple Moth Epiphyas postvittana
3x Aleimma loeflingiana
3x Celypha striana
1x Pandemis cerasana
1x Homoeosoma sinuella
10x Cnephasia sp.
2x Mother of Pearl Pleuroptya ruralis

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