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 20 August 2013

Old Lady in my trap!

Having not had time to set-up my trap on Sunday, I proceeded to last night and after a day of temperatures reaching 25 degrees, it all looked rather pleasant. This morning it was still reasinably mild at 14c. Some great new moths to add to the garden list aswell, with a stunning Old Lady, Tawny Speckled Pug and Ypsolopha scabrella. The catch was mostly made up by LBBYU's (51) and Square-spot Rustics (42)


Catch Report - 19/08/13 - Back Garden Stevenage - 1x 125w MV Robinson trap
 

Macro Moths

1x Tawny Speckled Pug [NFG]

1x Old Lady [NFG]
1x Setaceous Hebrew Character [NFY]
1x Black Arches
2x Scorched Carpet
1x Cabbage Moth
1x Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing
1x Lesser Yellow Underwing
1x Single-dotted Wave
2x Riband Wave
1x Red Twin-spot Carpet
1x Uncertain
1x Mouse Moth
2x Scalloped Oak
1x Flounced Rustic
1x Turnip Moth
1x Scarce Footman
1x Beautiful Hook-tip
3x Flame Shoulder
16x Willow Beauty
2x Double-striped Pug
42x Square-spot Rustic
2x Yellow Shell
19x Silver-Y
7x Vine's Rustic
51x Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing
14x Common Rustic
4x Straw Underwing
2x Straw Dot
2x Dun-bar
1x Garden Carpet
2x Spectacle
3x Copper Underwing sp
2x Brimstone
2x Orange Swift
6x Shuttle-shaped Dart
1x Snout
2x Large Yellow Underwing
2x Magpie

Micro Moths

1x Ypsolopha scabrella [NFG]
2x Emmelina monodactyla
1x Endotricha flammealis
11x Pleuroptya ruralis
1x Ditula angustiorana
1x Udea prunalis
1x Yponomeuta evonymella
1x Pyrausta aurata
1x Mompha propinquella
2x Phycita roborella
3x Argyrotaenia ljungiana
2x Bryotropha affinis
7x Agriphila tristella
6x Agriphila geniculea
1x Agriphila straminella
3x Pandemis corylana
1x Plutella xylostella
1x Trachycera advenella
2x  Spilonota ocellana
1x Epiphyas postvittana
1x Eudonia mercurella
1x Blastobasis adustella
1x Caloptilia alchiemella
1x Amblyptilia acanthadactyla
1x Hofmannophila pseudospretella

Old Lady











Wormwood Pug










Tawny Speckled Pug

3 comments:

  1. Hi Ben!

    Congrats on the OAP! The only one I ever found (apart from a long-ago encounter as a boy at my uncle's in Suffolk) was mysteriously dead on the roof of our car outside our home in Leeds three or four years ago. A mystery never solved.

    My first Sallow has arrived and I've linked it to your excellent blog. I wish I could be as efficient as you in record-keeping. Thanks as ever for all your invaluable help with IDs and all warm wishes,

    Martin

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Martin
    Thanks very much. Most people talk about how elusive they are to light traps. I have not had many but I see them every year in one of my traps somewhere. I must just be getting lucky.
    Woohoo, you beat me to it, I will be trapping tonight, although I haven't had a Sallow yet, should be Centre-barred/Barred and The Sallow around about now, but i'm expecting them to start the first week of September.
    No problem, glad to help you.
    All the best
    Ben

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi again Ben - I've just linked to you again cos guess what was in my trap this morning? (Thursday) TWO Old Ladies! Now you must get three...

    all v best

    M

    ReplyDelete