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

Sunday 15 May 2016

Field Trip - Broxbourne Woods - 14/05/16


Last night the Herts moth group assembled at the West car park at Broxbourne woods for the second official outing of the year.
We were also joined by the ranger whom was there on hand to introduce a handful of people to the nocturnal delights that we would hope to see in the woods.
The group went off in search of Bats whilst the final traps were being set up.
In total 16 traps and one sheet and bulb were set up running in all directions from the car park, probably complete over-kill considering the dismal conditions of clear skies and falling temperatures.
By dusk and before any lights were on we could see our breath and an hour into the session dew was visible on the grass. Coupled with a bright near first-quarter moon things were not looking good.
The bat walk had returned and luckily we had a few bits to show them but it was literally scraping at the barrel for a moth as it continued to get cooler and cooler and after packing away the equipment at 11.30pm, the temperature on my car read 3 degrees! 
Many thanks to Broxbourne Woods for allowing us to host this event in which we plan to do again this year on a (hopefully) more favourable night.
Also thank you to all of the people who turned up and made this event happen and for those who stayed to help me pack up.
Finally I will end on some GOOD NEWS.
We did manage to catch our target species, the Great Prominent, 4 in total although only one that I was aware of on the night as we had packed up and left before Graeme Smith did at 1:20am.
The moth came in as we were standing at the actinic briefcase trap, flittering around the tubes it was very clear what the moth was before it even settled.
The spectators were suitable impressed with how large the moth was compared to the first species we had showed them (a Male Pale Tussock)
Another moth of note was a single Grey Birch that Steve Easby spotted on a tree trunk no where near a light, a great find and a particularly uncommon moth for the County, well done Steve.

There are of course some pending identifications of some Elachista and Coleophora species. 

Another species of Caterpillar was shown to me, but I cannot recall what it was?


All in all it was nice to spend an evening with like minded people and great to catch up on everything moths!


NEXT TRIP

Our third trip is on Thursday 09th of June at Roughdown Common in Hemel Hempstead followed closely by the fourth trip at Balls Wood, Hertford on Saturday the 11th of June (our effort for National Moth Night)
 
Catch Report - 14/05/16 - Broxbourne Woods -16 traps a mixture of 125w MV, 160w MBT and Actinic bulbs

Macro Moths

4x Great Proninent
1x Green Carpet
3x Lesser Swallow Prominent
1x Swallow Prominent
1x White Pinion-spotted
1x Grey Birch 
3x Pale Tussock
1x Angle Shades 
1x Clouded-bordered Brindle
2x Silver-ground Carpet
3x Green Carpet 

Micro Moths

5x Nematopogon swammerdamella
1x Adela reamurella 
1x Tinea semifulvella
1x Incurvaria mascuelella
2x Elachista canapennella
1x Elachista sp
3x Coleophora sp

Leaf-mines 

Stigmella aurella - Abundant
Eriocrania chrysolepidella - Many
Emmetia marginea - Few  

Larvae

Epirrita sp - Pending


Great Prominent










Nematopogon swammerdamella
 

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