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

Wednesday 5 April 2017

More quality with a little more quantity too

My first trapping session of April was of course on the night of the 1st on Saturday and I had quite a small catch but to be expected as it was cool and clear with a temperature down to 5c come the morning.
The only moth of interest from that night was a second record for the year of Grey Shoulder-knot. 

On Monday night things picked up dramatically, with a warm day with highs of nigh on 18 degrees the sky did duly clear as the sun set but by this morning we had cloud and the thermometer read 9c.
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There was also about 90% more moths in and around the trap than when I checked at 11pm.
Another Grey Shoulder-knot, a different example to Saturday night's specimen was nice to see, but even better and strangely?? inside the kitchen on the patio door was only my second ever garden record of Powdered Quaker...how it got in I don't know but it must have flew in last night when I had the door open sorting the rubbish bins, result!

The second surprise was a Knot Grass which I nearly mistook for an Early Grey! This is my earliest ever record of this species and I typically record it from May to July with my earliest previous record on the 30th of April in 2014, so a month early give or take a few days.

Not content with those I also recorded year first specimens of Nut-tree Tussock and Dyseriocrania subpurpurella.

Catch Report - 01/04/17 - Back Garden - Stevenage - 1x 125w MV Robinson Trap - Clear/Cold - min 5c

Macro Moths

3x Common Quaker
1x Early Grey
1x Grey Shoulder-knot
6x Hebrew Character
1x Small Quaker
 
Micro Moths

3x Emmelina monodactlya


Catch Report - 03/04/17 - Back Garden - Stevenage - 1x 125w MV Robinson Trap - Clear to start with but cloudy by 6am - temp 9c

Macro Moths

1x Knot Grass [NFY]
1x Nut-tree Tussock [NFY] 
1x Powdered Quaker [NFY] 
1x Clouded Drab
13x Common Quaker
3x Double-striped Pug
1x Early Grey
1x Grey Shoulder-knot
9x Hebrew Character
1x Small Quaker
 
Micro Moths

1x Dyseriocrania subpurpurella [NFY]
3x Emmelina monodactlya

Dyseriocrania subpurpurella











Knot Grass













Nut-tree Tussock











Powdered Quaker

Posted by Bennyboymothman at 18:21

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