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 21 June 2017

The garden keeps on surprising me

Last Friday I ran the trap again after doing very well on Wednesday night. 
The day had been warm and muggy and very little change as we continue to experience settled warm weather touching the low 30's. 
Well upon looking out of the window at 5am on Saturday morning, things looked rather promising indeed.
There were moths absolutely everywhere! And I recorded the most moths that i've recorded so far this year with 91 species in total.

Only my second garden record of Prays fraxinella (last seen in 2013!) despite a small Ash tree in the garden and some mature specimens in the surrounding area....mothing again never fails to surprise me.
Red-necked Footman is now an annual moth for me which is pleasing.

Marbled White Spot was a new moth for my garden, a relatively common moth in Hertfordshire but i've struggled to add it to the garden list taking 5 whole years!
The 2nd new for the garden moth was a micro, Anania perlucidalis...a moth that I use to record regularly in damp habitats typically.

A beautiful Pammene aurana was only my second garden record with my last one being in 2013. 

And finally a Leopard Moth returned again after a 4 year gap.

Catch Report - 16/06/17 - Back Garden - Stevenage - 1x 125w MV Robinson Trap
 
Macro Moths

1x Marbled White Spot [NFG]
1x July Highflyer [NFY] 
1x Lackey [NFY]
1x Leopard Moth [NFY]
1x Light Arches [NFY]
1x Poplar Grey [NFY]
1x Red-necked Footman [NFY]
1x Scorched Carpet [NFY]
3x Barred Yellow
1x Bright-line Brown-eye
1x Brimstone Moth
1x Buff Arches 
2x Buff-tip 
1x Clouded Brindle 
1x Common Footman 
1x Common Marbled Carpet
1x Common Pug
2x Common Wainscot
1x Common White Wave 
2x Dark Arches
1x Dot Moth 
1x Double-striped Pug
2x Double Square-spot 
3x Dwarf Cream Wave
1x Elephant Hawk-moth 
2x Fan-foot
1x Flame Shoulder 
1x Green Pug
1x Grey Dagger
1x Green Silver-lines 
1x Heart & Club
20x Heart & Dart
2x Ingrailed Clay
1x Large Yellow Underwing
4x Marbled Minor
2x Mottled Rustic
1x Privet Hawk-moth 
1x Riband Wave
1x Setaceous Hebrew Character
1x Shuttle-shaped Dart
1x Small Square-spot 
1x Snout
2x Straw Dot
1x Swallow-tailed Moth 
3x Treble Brown Spot
1x Uncertain 
1x V-Pug
6x Willow Beauty
 
Micro Moths

1x Anania perlucidalis [NFG]
1x Archips xylosteana [NFY]
1x Blastodacna hellerella [NFY] 
1x Emmetia marginea [NFY] 
1x Eudonia mercurella [NFY]
1x Gypsonoma dealbana [NFY] 
1x Homoeosoma sinuella [NFY]
1x Pammene aurana [NFY]
1x Paraswammerdamia albicapitella  [NFY]
1x Prays fraxinella [NFY]
1x Pterophorus pentadactyla [NFY]
1x Scythropia crataegella [NFY]
1x Spilonota ocellana [NFY]
1x Teleiodes vulgella [NFY] 
1x Acleris schalleriana
1x Aphomia sociella 
4x Aleimma loeflingiana
1x Amblyptilia acanthdactyla
1x Anania hortulata
1x Argyresthia curvella 
1x Argyresthia spinosella 
2x Blastobasis laticolella
1x Caloptilia alchimiella/robustella 
1x Celypha lacunana
1x Celypha striana
1x Chrysoteuchia culmella 
1x Clepsis consimilana
1x Crassa unitella
2x Ditula angustiorana
1x Enarmonia formosana
3x Ephestia sp
2x Epiphyas postvittana
1x Epinotia bilunana
2x Eudonia lacustrata
1x Hedya nubiferana 
2x Mompha subbistrigella
1x Pammene regiana 
13x Scoparia ambigualis
5x Teleiodes luculella
5x Tortrix viridana
4x Udea olivalis

Anania perlucidalis













Crassa unitella













Homoeosoma sinuella











Lackey













Leopard Moth












Red-necked Footman











Scythropia crataegella












 Spilonota ocellana

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