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 9 June 2013

8th June 2013: Braughing Friars, Hertfordshire


8th June 2013: Braughing Friars, Hertfordshire
 
As written by Colin Plant (Herts County Recorder)

 
In spite of my earlier pessimism, and threats to take a book to read between moths, we didn’t do too badly at Braughing Friars last night. Don’t confuse this with me becoming positive again – we have a long way to go yet to return to normal moth numbers, but at least it is a lot better than all previous nights this year in Hertfordshire. A total of 6 traps and the vertical sheet were run from around 9.30 pm to somewhere between midnight and 1 am. There was a definite feeling of determination – not least because our friends in the Bedfordshire Moth Group had just posted on the Internet a list of 43 species recorded at one of their site the previous night!. Could we beat this? After all, we are just that bit nearer the Equator! Sadly, the answer was “no” – but only just. I make our total 39 species (which includes 2 yet to be named).  Not impressive, but much better than the utterly dire catches so far this year. Interestingly, many (most?) moths appeared to be freshly emerged.

 

The unidentified Agonopteryx is with Ben Sale – it may need dissection. Did anybody collect the Prays specimen? It was almost certainly Prays ruficeps, but might just have been the melanic form rustica of Prays fraxinella (take a look in the micro book by Sterling, Parsons and Lewington, page 116). Unfortunately, we will have to reduce to 38 species if nobody has that specimen to check.

 

The list follows; if I missed any, please do let me know. If I missed 5 we beat Bedfordshire and I’ll buy you a pint for telling me!

After the list I have done a quick analysis of the dates of each species, in case anyone is interested.

 
Colin


 
Moths at Braughing Friars, Hertfordshire on 8th June 2013

 

Numbers approximate – as a guide only.

 

Hepialidae

0017  Hepialus lupulinus (Linnaeus, 1758)                             Common Swift                     few 

Praydidae

Prays ruficeps OR fraxinella                                                      NAME TO FOLLOW           1

Depressariidae

Agonopteryx sp.                                                                           NAME TO FOLLOW           1

Tortricidae

0936  Cochylimorpha straminea (Haworth, 1811)                                                                1     

0966  Cochylis atricapitana (Stephens, 1852)                                                                         1     

1076  Celypha lacunana ([D.& S.], 1775)                                                                                1     

Crambidae

1301  Crambus lathoniellus (Zincken, 1817)                                                                           1     

1376  Eurrhypara hortulata (Linnaeus, 1758)                        Small Magpie                        1     

Geometridae

1724  Xanthorhoe spadicearia ([D.& S.], 1775)                     Red Twin-spot Carpet         1      ♂ gen. det.

1727  Xanthorhoe montanata ([D.& S.], 1775)                      Silver-ground Carpet           few 

1728  Xanthorhoe fluctuata (Linnaeus, 1758)                       Garden Carpet                      1     

1768  Thera obeliscata (Hübner, 1787)                                   Grey Pine Carpet                  1     

1776  Colostygia pectinataria (Knoch, 1781)                         Green Carpet                         sev  

1819  Eupithecia exiguata (Hübner, 1809-13)                       Mottled Pug                           3     

1834  Eupithecia vulgata (Haworth, 1809)                             Common Pug                        1     

1837  Eupithecia subfuscata (Haworth, 1809)                       Grey Pug                                1     

1883  Acasis viretata (Hübner, 1799)                                       Yellow-barred Brindle         1     

1887  Lomaspilis marginata (Linnaeus, 1758)                       Clouded Border                    1     

1888  Ligdia adustata ([D.& S.], 1775)                                    Scorched Carpet                   1     

1894  Chiasmia clathrata (Linnaeus, 1758)                            Latticed Heath                     2     

1904  Plagodis dolabraria (Linnaeus, 1767)                            Scorched Wing                      1     

1906  Opisthograptis luteolata (Linnaeus, 1758)                   Brimstone Moth                   1     

1931  Biston betularia (Linnaeus, 1758)                                  Peppered Moth                     1      f. carbonaria

1958  Lomographa temerata ([D.& S.], 1775)                        Clouded Silver                      1     

Arctiidae

2069  Tyria jacobaeae (Linnaeus, 1758)                                 Cinnabar                                1     

Noctuidae

2089  Agrotis exclamationis (Linnaeus, 1758)                       Heart and Dart                     1     

2102  Ochropleura plecta (Linnaeus, 1761)                            Flame Shoulder                    1      4

2126  Xestia c-nigrum (Linnaeus, 1758)                                  Setaceous Hebrew Character     2         

2173  Hadena bicruris (Hufnagel, 1766)                                 Lychnis                                  2     

2278  Acronicta megacephala ([D.& S.], 1775)                      Poplar Grey                           1     

2302  Rusina ferruginea (Esper, 1785)                                     Brown Rustic                        1     

2333  Apamea anceps ([D.& S.], 1775)                                   Large Nutmeg                       3     

2334  Apamea sordens (Hufnagel, 1766)                                Rustic Shoulder-knot           4     

2337  Oligia strigilis (Linnaeus, 1758)                                       Marbled Minor                     2      1♂ gen. det.

2339  Oligia latruncula ([D.& S.], 1775)                                   Tawny Marbled Minor        1      ♂ gen. det.

2380  Charanyca trigrammica (Hufnagel, 1766)                   Treble Lines                           2     

2425  Colocasia coryli (Linnaeus, 1758)                                 Nut-tree Tussock                  1     

2450  Abrostola tripartita (Hufnagel, 1766)                            Spectacle                               1     
2477       Hypena proboscidalis (Linnaeus, 1758)         Snout     1

No comments:

Post a Comment