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

Monday, 21 September 2015

That's better!

Moth numbers are dropping quite rapidly in my garden now with just the Large Yellow Underwings seeming to hang on until ever! The general theme was brown again, but with some grey as well with a couple of Pale Mottled Willows and three Large Ranunuculus! I did quite well last year with these trapping 12 and the previous year 8. 
3 equaled the most I have seen in my trap at once.
Not only did I get them I also got a stunning Large Thorn. Quite a nomadic species this with singles appearing in 2012 and 2013 but none last year. I am so pleased to see one again but in reality would happily swap one for a Canary-shouldered Thorn! 


Catch Report -  20/09/15 - Back Garden - Stevenage - 1x 125w MV Robinson Trap

Macro Moths

1x Large Thorn [NFY]
3x Large Ranunculus [NFY]
1x Silver-Y
5x Lunar Underwing
1x Garden Carpet
2x Pale Mottled Willow
2x Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing
8x Square-spot Rustic
8x Lesser Yellow Underwing
12x Setaceous Hebrew Character
4x Vine's Rustic
29x Large Yellow Underwing
1x Orange Swift
1x Brimstone Moth
3x Light Emerald
2x Shuttle-shaped Dart
2x Snout

Micro Moths

1x Phyllonorycter sp 
1x Acleris variegana
3x Epiphyas postvittana
1x Hofmannophila pseudospretella
2x Ambylptilia acanthdactyla
1x Udea ferrugalis
1x Blastobasis lacticolella
1x Pandemis cerasana 
Large Ranunculus













Large Thorn











Trio of Large Ranunculus
Posted by Bennyboymothman at 09:12