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

Wednesday 17 June 2015

My old Garden - The Farm

I travelled back to where my parents live in Braughing and decided to trap their farm site. 
The site itself is spread over 10 acres of mainly Ash, Oakm Willow, Birch and Hawthorn with a huge array of wildflowers taking over the now derelict farm.
The farm hasn't been running for nigh on 10 years now so everything is really overgrown and nature just loves this, nine less than the moths themselves.
A really good night but very tiring and rewarding at the same time.

The detritus feeding moths were really out in force and to be expected on a derelict farm with lots of fibres, moss and leaf litter about.

Best moth of the night had to be the 10...yes 10! Small Mottled Willow, found in all but one of the traps. 
Other than that the species were the usual expected types but some really nice ones mixed in and some of the common species coming to light in impressive numbers.

A really enjoyable evening, even if I did only get 2 hours of disturbed sleep!


Numbers below are approximate. 


Catch Report -  16/06/15 - Braughing Farmland - 2x 125w MV Robinson Trap 1x 160w MBT Robinson Trap & 1x 80w Actinic + 26w CFL Suitcase Trap

126 Species  78 Macros and 48 Micros

Macro Moths

3x Angle Shades
4x Blood-vein
2x Brimstone Moth

5x Brown Rustic
7x Buff Ermine
1x Buff Footman
1x Buff-tip
4x Burnished Brass
2x Buttoned Snout
1x Cabbage Moth
16x Cinnabar
1x Clouded Border
15+ Clouded Silver
1x Clouded-bordered Brindle
2x Common Carpet
2x Common Footman
2x Common Marbled Carpet
1x Common Pug  
6x Common Swift
2x Common Wainscot  
1x Common White Wave
1x Coxcomb Prominent 
1x Dark Arches
 
3x Elephant Hawk-moth
1x Fan-foot
1x Fern 
2x Figure of Eighty
1x Flame
20+ Flame Shoulder
1x Garden Carpet
3x Ghost Moth
3x Green Carpet

4x Green Silver-lines
1x Grey Pug
35+ Heart & Dart
10x Ingrailed Clay
1x Iron Prominent
1x July Highflyer
13x Large Nutmeg
1x Large Yellow Underwing
1x Latticed Heath    
5x Light Emerald
4x Marbled Minor
6x Middle-barred Minor
1x Mottled Beauty
1x Mottled Pug
4x Mottled Rustic
1x Oak Hook-tip
4x Orange Footman
1x Pale Oak Beauty  
5x Pale Tussock
1x Pebble Prominent
3x Peppered Moth
1x Pine Hawk-moth
4x Poplar Hawk-moth
3x Privet Hawk-moth   
10x Rustic Shoulder-knot
1x Sallow Kitten
2x Scorched Carpet 
6x Scorched Wing  
12x Setaceous Hebrew Character
1x Shoulder-striped Wainscot
2x Silver-ground Carpet
1x Small Dusty Wave
10x Small Mottled Willow
5x Small Square-spot
1x Small Waved Umber
10x Snout
7x Spectacle
1x Spruce Carpet
25x Straw Dot
1x Tawny Marbled Minor  
5x Treble Lines  
1x Uncertain
3x Vine's Rustic 
5x White Ermine
2x Yellow Shell

 

Micro Moths

2x Anthophila fabriciana
40+ Celypha lacunana
2x Epiphyas postvittana
1x Monopis weaverella
20x Hedya pruniana
40+ Anania hortulata
15x Scoparia ambigualis
2x Endrosis sarcitrella
20x Aphonia sociella
1x Psyche casta
3x Nemapogon cloacella
1x Mompha epilobiella
8x Cochylis hybridella
3x Cochylis molliculana
2x Eucosma cana
4x Chrysoteuchia culmella
1x Aphelia paleana
3x Udea olivalis
2x Notocelia uddmanniana
1x Pterophorus pentadactyla
2x Tinea semifulvella
7x Crambus lathoniellus
8x Pseudargyrotoza conwagana
3x Cnephasia sp
1x Scopariia pyralella
3x Pandemis cerasana
1x Catoptria falsella
4x Plutella xylostella
1x Nematopogon schwarziellus
11x Celypha striana
2x Epiblema cynosbatella
5x Hofmannophila pseudospretella
1x Niditinea fuscella
1x Paraswammerdamia albicapitella
1x Elachista atricomella
2x Eudonia pallida
1x Epinotia bilunana
1x Udea ferrugalis
1x Homoeosoma sinuella
1x Metzneria metzneriella
2x Eudonia lacustrata
1x Crambu perlella
1x Evergestis forficalis
1x Teleiodes luculella
1x Nephopterix angustella
1x Rhyacionia pinivorana
3x Argyresthia spinosella
1x Epiblema costipunctana


Epiblema costipunctana











Nephopterix angustella











Trap on the concrete path covered in moss now









Shoulder-striped Wainscot











July Highflyer












Catoptria falsella









 
Udea ferrugalis













Small Mottled Willow










 
8 of the 10 Bumper catch of SMW

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