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 28 July 2016

Herts Moth Group Field Trip - Bovingdon Brickworks - 23/07/16

On Saturday night the Herts Moth Group assembled at Bovingdon Brickworks ready to see what moths would turn up at this fantastic site owned by the Boxmoor Trust.

Bovingdon Brickworks is situated about a mile South-West of Bovingdon village and is still very much active today with Bovingdon Bricks selling all manor of Bricks for industrial and commercial needs.
In 2000, the Boxmoor Trust was gifted 40 acres of land at the old workings site of Bovingdon Brickworks, to be managed as a conservation area.
Since then the site has seen an important area for all types of wildlife and is always an interesting location to trap moths.
Saturday was no different. We set up a total of 8 lights spread across the lower field and into the woods and on the edge of the disused brick pits.
Many of the people that turned up to help set the equipment up and study the moths had never been here before, and it was a pleasure showing them how special this site is.

We ran our lights until about 2am and it took a good hour to pack away, in fact I didn't arrive home until nearly 4am! Well worth the effort though as we managed some incredible records for the site.

We didn't managed to see our target species, Garden Tiger. Which was a shame but nevertheless there were some lovely local species that did turn up as compensation.
Species such as Barred Rivulet, Gem, Bordered Pug and Tree-lichen Beauty.

There is still a Pug species to confirm and a few micro's to sort out but 213 species is what we are at at the moment which is pretty fantastic and my highest amount of species so far this year.

Catch Report - 23/07/16 - Bovingdon Brickworks - 3x 125w MV Robinson Trap 1x 125w MV Tripod and heet 1x 160w MBT Robinson Trap 1x Blacklight Blue Trap 1x 80w Actinic Briefcase Trap & 1x 40w Actinic/26w BLB Trap

Macro Moths - 113 Species

Angle Shades 
Barred Rivulet
Barred Straw
Beautiful Golden-Y
Beautiful Hook-tip
Bordered Pug
Bordered Sallow
Bright-line Brown-eye
Brimstone Moth
Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing
Brown-line Bright-eye
Buff Arches
Buff Footman
Burnished Brass
Clay 
Clay Triple-lines
Cloaked Minor
Clouded Border
Clouded Silver
Common Carpet 
Common Emerald
Common Footman
Common Marbled Carpet 
Common Rustic
Common Wainscot
Common Wave 
Common White Wave 
Coronet
Dark Arches
Dark Umber
Dingy Footman
Dingy Shears
Dot Moth
Double Square-spot 
Double-striped Pug
Dun-bar
Ear Moth
Early Thorn
Elephant Hawk-moth
Engrailed
Fan-foot
Flame
Flame Shoulder
Foxglove Pug
Garden Carpet
Gem
Green Pug
Grey Dagger
Haworth's Pug
Heart & Dart 
Iron Prominent
July Highflyer
Large Twin-spot Carpet
Large Yellow Underwing 
Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing
Lesser Yellow Underwing
Light Arches
Light Emerald 
Lobster Moth
Lunar-spotted Pinion 
Maiden's Blush
Marbled Minor 
Miller
Mottled Beauty
Mottled Rustic
Nut-tree Tussock 
Oak Nycteoline 
Peach Blossom
Pebble Prominent
Peppered Moth
Poplar Grey 
Poplar Hawk-moth
Red Twin-spot Carpet
Riband Wave 
Ruby Tiger
Rustic 
Scallop Shell 
Scalloped Oak
Scarce Footman
Shaded Broad-bar
Shuttle-shaped Dart
Silver-Y
Single-dotted Wave
Slender Brindle
Slender Pug
Small Angle Shades
Small Blood-vein 
Small Emerald
Small Fan-foot
Small Fan-footed Wave
Small Phoenix
Small Rivulet 
Small Waved Umber
Small Yellow Wave
Smoky Wainscot 
Snout 
Spectacle
Straw Dot
Straw Underwing
Suspected
Svensson's Copper Underwing
Swallow Prominent
Swallow-tailed Moth
Sycamore
Tawny Marbled Minor
Tree-lichen Beauty
Uncertain 
V-Pug
White-spotted Pug
Willow Beauty
Yellow Shell
Yellow-barred Brindle
Yellow-tail

Micro Moths - 100 Species

Acentria ephemerella
Acleris laterana
Acleris notana/ferrugana
Acrobasis advenella 
Acrobasis consociella
Aethes cnicana
Agapeta hamana 
Agapeta zoegana
Agonopterix kaekeritziana
Agriphila straminella 
Anania hortulata 
Aphomia sociella 
Aproaerema anthllidella
Archips podana 
Archips xylosteana
Batia lunaris
Batrachedra praeangusta
Blastobasis adustella 
Blastobasis lacticolella 
Bryotropha terrella 
Bucculatrix nigricomella 
Caloptilia alchimiella/robustella
Caloptilia stigmatella
Carcina quercana
Catoptria falsella 
Catoptria pinella 
Celypha cespitana
Celypha lacunana
Celypha rosaceana
Celypha striana
Chrysoteuchia culmella
Clepsis consimilana 
Cnephasia sp
Cochylimorpha straminea 
Cochylis atricapitana
Cochylis roseana
Coleophora sp (white)
Crambus pascuella
Crambus perlella 
Crassa unitella
Cydia fagiglandana
Cydia pomonella
Cydia splendana 
Dioryctria abietella
Ditula angustiorana
Endothenia gentianaeana
Endotricha flammealis 
Ephestia parasitella
Epiblema foenella
Eucosma cana
Eucosma conterminana
Eucosma hohenwartiana
Eudonia lacustrata 
Eudonia mercurella 
Eudonia pallida 
Euzophora pinguis 
Grapholita janthinana
Gypsonoma dealbana
Gypsonoma sociana
Hedya nubiferana 
Hedya pruniana
Hofmannophila pseudospretella 
Hypsopygia costalis 
Hypsopygia glaucinalis
Limnaecia phragmitella 
Lobesia abscisana 
Metzneria lappella 
Mompha ochraceella 
Monochroa palustrella 
Monopis crocicapitella [NEW!]
Monopis weaverella
Notocelia uddmanniana 
Oncocera semirubella
Pammene aurita
Pammene fasciana
Pandemis cerasana 
Pandemis heparana 
Paraswammerdamia nebulella 
Phycita roborella 
Phycitodes binaevella 
Pleuroptya ruralis
Plutella xylostella
Pseudargyrotoza conwagana 
Pterophorus pentadactyla
Ptycholomoides aeriferanus
Pyrausta aurata
Pyrausta purpuralis
Recurvaria leucatella 
Scoparia ambigualis 
Scoparia pyralella
Spilonota ocellana 
Strophedra sp
Swammerdamia pyrella
Syncopacma sp
Udea prunalis 
Yponomeuta evonymella 
Ypsolopha dentella
Ypsolopha parenthesella
Ypsolopha ustella
Zeiraphera isertana


Clay Triple-lines











Dioryctria abietella










Ptycholomoides aeriferanus











The Suspected












Cochylis roseana











Monopis crocicapitella











Barred Rivulet












Swammerdamia pyrella

2 comments:

  1. Wow! Looks like it was a superb night, Ben. Really encouraging to see that the site is so rich in moth life. Brilliant job Ben ;-)!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey Lucy. I hope you are well. Thanks, it was superb indeed with plenty of people turning up.
    Take care now

    ReplyDelete