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

Monday 13 June 2016

National Moth Night - Balls Wood - Hertford - 11/06/16



Our fouth trip of the year saw eleven keen mother's descend on Ball's Wood for our effort for National Moth Night.
The target was to be Hawk-moths of which we saw very few, in fact just one species which was Poplar Hawk-moth, 4 specimens were observed.
When we all arrived the weather did not look very promising and rain put a slight dampener on the night ahead, the only saving grace was that it was cloudy, still warm at 20 degrees and still...maybe we would do ok despite the rain?
Lots of lights were set-up and I myself ran four traps with different bulbs in to try and tempt different species to be attracted to them.
We covered a few of the rides and made sure everything was water-proofed to avoid any accidents. 

As the rain continued into the night I was confident that we would do well, famous last words I know but with the ambient temperature not expected to drop below 14 degrees it would be perfect if the rain stopped, and it did! At about 11pm the rain ceased and the moths seemed to be spurred on by this and more were arriving to the traps.
We stuck it right out until the bitter end and as the time was approaching 3am we were still going through the traps!
There were many superb moths found in all of the traps and several uncommon species that just aren't found in your average garden. Species such as Poplar Lutestring, Great Oak Beauty, Cream Wave, Grey Arches and Gold Swift to name but a few of the Macro's.
And then there were the Micro's...there were quite a few! And I nearly ran out of pots for them all.
One species in particular Choristoneura hebenstreitella, a very large Tortrix reminiscent of a bigger variety of Pandemis cerasana I don't recall seeing before, there were several to my lights.
Another good moth confirmed today was Epinotia tedella, only my second example, my first one was recorded at Roughdown Common in July 2013.
Other Micro's of note included a stunning Spatalistis bifasciana and plenty of the pretty Tortrix moth Ptycholoma lecheana, one example was so brightly coloured with yellow, it looked like a piece of shining gold in the trap.

All in all 152 species was pretty good considering the amount of rain we endured before it got dark leaving the vegetation soaking.

Numbers below are approximate. 
 
Catch Report - 11/06/16 - Balls Wood - Hertford - 7x 125w MV Robinson Traps 1x 160w MBT Trap 1x 26w BLB Robinson Trap and 1x 80w Actinic & 26w CFL Bulb Suitcase Trap

Macro Moths - 89  Species

2x Angle Shades
2x Beautiful Golden-Y
1x Beautiful Hook-tip
1x Blood-vein
1x Brimstone Moth
3x Brindled White-spot
2x Broken-barred Carpet
2x Brown Rustic
1x Buff Ermine
1x Buff-tip
2x Burnished Brass
5x Clouded Border 
5x Clouded Silver
1x Clouded-bordered Brindle
3x Common Marbled Carpet
5x Common Pug
25+ Common Swift
3x Common White Wave
1x Dark Arches
1x Double Square-spot
1x Dusky Brocade 
2x Flame
2x Flame Shoulder
1x Foxglove Pug
5x Gold Swift
5x Great Oak Beauty
1x Grey Arches
5x Green Carpet
2x Green Silver-lines
1x Grey-pine Carpet
5x Grey Pug
2x Heart & Dart
2x Ingrailed Clay
1x Iron Prominent
2x Large Nutmeg
1x Large Yellow Underwing
1x Lesser Swallow Prominent
5x Light Brocade
10x Light Emerald
2x Lobster Moth
1x Maiden's Blush
2x Marbled Minor
6x Marbled White-spot
1x Middle-barred Minor
1x Mottled Beauty
3x Mottled Pug
2x Mottled Rustic
4x Orange Footman
10x Pale Oak Beauty
1x Pale Prominent
6x Pale Tussock
1x Peach Blossom
2x Peacock Moth
1x Pebble Prominent
1x Peppered Moth
1x Poplar Grey
1x Poplar Hawk-moth
5x Poplar Lutestring
1x Purple Bar
1x Red-necked Footman
1x Riband Wave
2x Rustic Shoulder-knot
1x Scalloped Hazel
1x Scorched Carpet
8x Scorched Wing
1x Seraphim 
1x Setaceous Hebrew Character
10x Silver-ground Carpet
1x Small Angle Shades
3x Small Dotted Buff
1x Small Dusty Wave
3x Small Fan-foot
1x Small Rivulet
1x Small Square-spot
15+ Small White Wave
2x Small Yellow Wave
1x Snout
1x Spruce Carpet
5x Straw Dot
3x Swallow Prominent 
2x Sycamore 
2x Tawny Marbled Minor
2x Tawny-barred Angle
2x Treble Brown Spot
5x Treble Lines
4x White Ermine
1x White-pinion Spotted
1x White-spotted Pug
2x Willow Beauty
1x Yellow-barred Brindle 

Micro Moths -  63 Species

Adela reaumurella 1
Aleimma loeflingiana
Ancylis badiana 1
Ancylis laetana 5+
Ancylis mitterbacheriana 3
Aphomia sociella 1
Apotomis turbidana 1 
Archips Podana 2
Argyresthia brockeella 3
Argyresthia goedartella 1
Argyresthia spinosella 2
Argyresthia albstria 1 
Blastobasis lacticolella 2
Caloptilia alchiemiella 
Caloptilia robustella 1
Capua vulgana 1
Carpatolechia proximella 1
Celypha cespitana 3
Celypha lacunana 5
Choristoneura hebenstreitella 10
Cochylis molliculana 1
Cochylis nana 5
Crambus lathoniellus 5
Cryptoblabes bistriga 1
Cydia fagiglandana 8
Elachista apicipunctella 2
Elophila nymphaeata 10+
Epinotia bilunana 10+
Epinotia demarniana 10+ 
Epinotia nisella 1
Epinotia ramella 1
Epinotia tedella 1
Epiphyas postvittana 4
Eucosma cana 1
Eudonia lacustrata 2
Eudonia pallida 1
Hedya pruniana 10+
Hedya nubiferana 2
Lathronympha strigana 5
Monopis laevigella 1
Monopis weaverella 2
Morophaga choragella 2
Nemapogon cloacella 2
Nemophora degeerella 2
Notocelia cynosbatella 1
Notocelia trimaculana 1
Notocelia uddmanniana 2
Pandemis cerasana 10+
Pandemis cinnamomeana 1
Parapoynx stratiotata 5
Paraswammerdamia albicapitella 1
Phtheochroa inopiana 1
Plutella xylostella 50+
Pseudargyrotoza conwagana 4
Ptycholoma lecheana 4
Scoparia ambigualis 30+
Scoparia pyralella 1
Spatalistis bifasciana 1
Teleiodes luculella 10+
Tinea semifulvella 1
Tinea trinotella 1
Tortrix viridana 15+
Triaxomera parasitella 1


 
Ancylis mitterbacheriana










Ancylis laetana










Apotomis turbidana











Epinotia tedella











Choristoneura hebenstreitella










 
Celypha cespitana











Gold Swift










Small Fan-foot













Spatalistis bifasciana












Ptycholoma lecheana













Great Oak Beauty

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