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

Thursday 3 July 2014

Up to Beds! Home Wood - Field Trip - 02/07/14

Hi all

Last night I joined Matt and Trent (Or Lionel, confused.com lol), at Home Wood near Biggelswade in Bedfordshire, hopping Counties for the first time this year (in fact I shall be travelling to Essex tonight, two Counties in as many days).
Conditions were absolutely spot on with dominant cloud cover and a warm sultry temperature we set about our business to cover a nice wide area of the woodland.
But before that we had to do a spot of tractor pulling.. well van, as Trent's van got stuck in the mud (I wonder if that piece of rope ever came off the tow-bar?)

The evening started well with plenty of micros and Geometers turning up first to the sheet.

Then at about 11pm it all went a bit mental really, the traps that we had left were teeming with moths, you could barely see the trap underneath them, peering into the skinner actinic was like something out of a tropical rainforest catch and inhalation was definitely not a good idea at this point!

I have yet to write the list up as I have spent all morning photographing all of the moths which hasn't been easy with the warm weather and wind.

I think we must be knocking on the door of 200 species of Macro and Micro for the night.

Acleris kochiella, Assara terebrella, Acleris holmiana, Larch Pug, Mere Wainscot, Olindia schumacherana and Zeiraphera ratzeburgiana were new for me
Edit ; Also Gold Swift!

So here are a few beauties from last night, mainly micros and several were new to me.

I wonder if we get a first for Bedfordshire out of all the things we potted, and the sack load of tubes heading David Manning's way.

Catch Report - 02/07/14 - Home Wood - Nr.Biggleswade - 1x 125w MV Robinson Trap, 1x 160w MBT Robinson Trap & 1x 80w Actinic Suitcase Trap.


Numbers below are approximate

106 Macros and 67 Micros ( 173 species)

Macro Moths

2x Barred Red
2x Barred Straw
1x Barred Yellow
5x Beautiful Hook-tip
1x Black Arches
1x Blackneck
2x Blood-vein
2x Bright-line Brown-eye
5x Brimstone Moth
1x Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing
4x Brown Rustic
1x Brown Scallop
1x Brown-line Bright-eye
2x Brown-tail
5x Buff Arches
10+ Buff Footman
3x Buff-tip
1x Burnished Brass
1x Chinese Character
1x Cinnabar
2x Clay
20+ Clouded Border
2x Clouded Brindle
30+ Clouded Silver
1x Clouded-bordered Brindle 
1x Common Carpet
3x Common Footman
1x Common Pug
2x Common Rustic
1x Common Swift
2x Common Wave
10+ Common White Wave
1x Coxcomb Prominent
10+ Dark Arches
2x Dingy Footman
1x Dingy Shears
1x Dingy Shell
1x Double-striped Pug
10+ Dun-bar
15+ Dwarf Cream Wave
1x Early Thorn
1x Elephant Hawk-moth
2x Engrailed
5x Fan-foot
1x Flame
1x Garden Carpet
1x Ghost Moth
1x Gold Swift [NEW!]
4x Green Pug
1x Green Silver-lines
2x Grey Pug
1x Haworth's Pug
3x Heart & Club
3x Heart & Dart
2x July Highflyer
1x Larch Pug [NEW!]
20+ Large Twin-spot Carpet
5x Large Yellow Underwing
1x Leopard Moth
5x Light Emerald
1x Lunar-spotted Pinion
1x Maiden's Blush
2x Maple Prominent
5x Marbled Minor
10+ Marbled White Spot
3x Mere Wainscot [NEW!]
10+ Mottled Beauty
2x Oak Nycteoline
2x Peach Blossom
5x Peppered Moth
1x Pine Hawk-moth
1x Poplar Grey
1x Poplar Hawk-moth
2x Pretty Chalk Carpet
1x Privet Hawk-moth
1x Purple Bar
15+ Riband Wave
1x Rustic
1x Satin Beauty
2x Scarce Footman
2x Scarce Silver-lines
2x Setaceous Hebrew Character
3x Shaded Broad-bar
1x Shears
3x Short-cloaked Moth
5x Single-dotted Wave
2x Slender Brindle
5x Small Dotted Buff
5x Small Fan-foot
25+ Small Fan-footed Wave
1x Small Phoenix
5x Smoky Wainscot
10+ Snout
1x Spectacle
1x Spruce Carpet
15+ Straw Dot
2x Swallow-tailed Moth
1x Sycamore
2x Tawny Marbled Minor
1x Tawny-barred Angle
4x Treble Brown Spot
2x Uncertain
1x V-Pug
2x White Satin Moth
1x Wormwood Pug
8x Yellow-tail

Micro Moths

Acleris holmiana 1 [NEW!]
Acleris laterana/comariana 1
Acleris kochiella 1 [NEW!]
Aethes rubigana 1
Agapeta hamana 10+
Agapeta zoegana 3
Agriphila straminella 3
Aleimma loeflingiana 50+
Ancylis achatana 2
Apotomis capreana 1
Archips crataegana 5
Archips podana 2
Archips xylosteana 2
Argyresthia albistria 1
Argyresthia brockeella 2
Argyresthia goedartella 1
Assara terebrella 1 [NEW!]
Batia lunaris 1
Batia unitella 3
Blastobasis lacticolella 2
Blastodacna hellerella 2
Bryotropha terrella 5
Catoptria pinella 1
Celypa lacunana 8
Celypa striana 5
Chrysoteuchia culmella 10
Cochylis hybridella 2
Conobathra repandana 10
Crambus lathoniellus 1
Crambus pascuella 3
Cryptoblabes bistriga 1
Dipleurina lacustrata 2
Ditula angustiorana 5
Endrosis sarcitella 1
Ephestia parasitella
Epiblema uddmanniana 3
Epinotia bilunana 1
Epinotia brunnichana 3
Eucosma cana 5
Eucosma hohenwartiana 1
Eucosma obumbratana 10
Eudemis profundana 1
Eulamprotes atrella
Gypsonoma dealbana 1
Gypsonoma sociana 1
Hedya ochroleucana
Hedya pruniana 5
Hedya salicella 1
Hofmannophila pseudospretella 2
Olindia schumacherana 5 [NEW!]
Orthopygia glaucinalis 2
Pammene fasciana 1
Pandemis cerasana 10+
Pandemis heparana 2
Paraswammerdamia nebulella 3
Phycitodes binaevella 1
Pleuroptya ruralis 10
Prays fraxinella 5
Pterophorus pentadactyla 2
Rhopobota naevana 2
Scoparia ambigualis 5
Scoparia basistrigalis 8
Spilonota ocellana 2
Syncopacma larseniella sp 5
Tortrix viridana 5
Zeiraphera ratzeburgiana 1 [NEW!]
Zeiraphera isertana 10



Acleris kochiella - To be Gen Det













Aethes rubigana










Assara terebrella










Cryptoblabes bistriga










Eulamprotes atrella











Gypsonoma dealbana










Hedya ochroleucana










Larch Pug










Lunar-spotted Pinion










Gold Swift










Mere Wainscot










Olindia schumacherana









 
Perinephela lancealis










Rhopobota naevana










Satin Beauty










Zeiraphera ratzeburgiana










Scarce Silver-lines










Scoparia basistrigalis - Huge!










 
Spilonota ocellana










Syncopacma larseniella - To be Gen Det


4 comments:

  1. Blimey Ben! Looks like you've already IDed a lot of it. Larch Pug is new for me too. I just wonder if we have Sloe Pug too. David won;t know what's hit him! All the best,

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice work mate, do you ever sleep ? What a great night !
    It will bolster the site list considerably and I'll be looking forward to the combined tally after our Mr M has had a look.
    Thanks for dragging me out of the mud :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Shattered guys, absolutely shattered! I am sure we did have Sloe Pug (must have been with you?) David will be busier than I as that's for sure.
    You are welcome Lionel or Trent? I am confused a bit lol. And yep you are welcome.
    Went out last night but it wasn't very good! Did get to see the targetv species though so worth he hour and a half journey.
    All the best
    Ben

    ReplyDelete
  4. Did I say Lionel?- I meant Trent.
    I will build up a list of all we've got and send you a list once it's been put into B/F order on Mapmate. I will wait for your list and the DVM Gen Dets before publishing.
    Cheers Ben

    ReplyDelete