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, I have now removed commenting as the bots were starting to appear
Contact Email : bensale@rocketmail.com

My Latest Notables and Rarities

Tuesday, 6 May 2014

Garden first Eyed Hawk meets it's peril :(

A very pleasing night with good night time temperatures and plenty of cloud cover. Unfortunately it did rain during the night, and this morning it was drizzling a little.
Still I was rewarded with a garden first Eyed Hawk-moth, unfortunately a Garden Spider had got to it before me and had already delivered the fatal bite :( 
Puss moth was also new, after rearing 3 Males recently, this one was a female and another garden first, delighted!
Stigmella aurella was certainly the smallest moth in the catch, a moth I recorded earlier on in the year as a tenanted mine within Brambles at the back of the garden.

Also Pseudoswammerdamia combinella was a good new micro for the garden, and despite letting go one from last weeks catch at Roughdown Common, thinking this was initially the same individual....after a photo of the same side it clearly has different markings.


Catch Report - 05/05/14 - Back Garden Stevenage - 1x 125w MV Robinson Trap

Macro Moths

1x Eyed Hawk-moth [NFG]
1x Puss Moth (F) [NFG]
1x Orange Footman [NFY]
2x Red-green Carpet [NFY]
1x Buff-tip [NFY]
1x Spruce Carpet
1x Garden Carpet  

2x Brindled Pug
1x Flame Shoulder
1x Nut-tree Tussock
2x Brimstone Moth
3x Shuttle-shaped Dart

Micro Moths 

1x Pseudoswammerdamia combinella [NFG]
1x Syndemis musculana [NFY]
1x Argyrotaenia ljungiana [NFY]
1x Stigmella aurella
1x Agonopterix purpurea
1x Endrosis sarcitrella
1x Epiphyas postvittana

Argyrotaenia ljungiana










Buff-tip










Eyed Hawk-moth :(









Orange Footman












Pseudoswammerdamia combinella









Puss Moth Female









Stigmella aurella










Syndemis musculana
 




Posted by Bennyboymothman at 09:54