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 19 May 2016

Field Trip - Hexton Chalk Pit - 17/05/16


I was joined by Roger, Colin and Steve for a last minute trip on Tuesday night to Hexton Chalk Pit.

Hexton Chalk Pit sits in Hertfordshire but only just as it is bordered by Bedfordshire literally on both sides as the County border forks out.

The weather seemed pretty good, warm and muggy if a little windy at times and with a high of 18 degrees and a minimum expected of around 11, it should be good I was thinking.

Well, for starter's the wind didn't die down, it just got progressively worse as the evening went on , and at packing up time at 12.30am it was strong in places across the reserve.

We setup four traps at different heights and areas and left them to their own devices and then concentrated on the sheet that Colin had erected Bear Gryll's style using various bits of wood.

The light went on and we got Green Carpets, more Green Carpets, then Scoparia ambigualis and then Cockchafers by the bucketload!

Unfortunately it was so slow that we were really trying hard to keep the interest going, really unheard of out in the field at nearly the end of May...we usually run out of pots!

All in all we recorded 31 species of moth.
 
Catch Report - 17/05/16 -Hexton Chalk Pit - 2x 125w MV Robinson Traps 1x 160w MBT Robinson Trap and 1x 80w Actinic Suitcase Trap with a 125w Bulb and sheet.

Macro Moths

1x Common Swift
25+ Green Carpet
1x Waved umber
4x Brimstone Moth
4x Pale Tussock
3x Flame Shoulder
2x Purple Bar
2x Small Phoenix
2x Treble-lines
5x Yellow-barred Brindle
1x Angle Shades
15+ Red Twin-spot Carpet
3x Common Pug
2x Brindled Pug
2x Oak-tree Pug
3x White Ermine
1x Double-striped Pug
2x Shears
1x Common Quaker
1x Broken-barred Carpet
1x Common Carpet
1x Rustic Shoulder-knot
1x Small Waved Umber
1x Least Black Arches f.columbina
1x Common White Wave
1x Chinese Character

Micro Moths

3x Cochylis atricapitana
1x Parornix sp
25+ Scoparia ambigualis
1x Agonopterix pallorella
1x Endrosis sarcitrella
1x Elachista argentella
1x Monopis weaverella
2x Cochylimorpha straminea
1x Plutella xylostella

Shears











Agonopterix pallorella











Cochylis atricapitana


Posted by Bennyboymothman at 07:18

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