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, I have now removed commenting as the bots were starting to appear
Contact Email : bensale@rocketmail.com

My Latest Notables and Rarities

Saturday, 10 June 2017

Wednesday evening at Ashwell Quarry

On Wednesday evening the car was all packed and ready for another visit to Ashwell Quarry.
On arrival at 8pm it was still warm at 17 degrees but the sky looked quite menacing coming in from the South-west and rain was forecast for around 2am.
Thinking that the breeze was going to blow the rain in way before the predicted time, I decided to leave the gear in the car and have a walk around with the net.

 I found many different species (18 to be precise) which was pleasing enough in itself and so as the first few rain drops fell at just after 9pm, I wimped out and decided to schedule the trip for another night.

 Below are a few of the best species I netted.

 Pseudargyrotoza conwagana, Celypha lacunana and Nemapogon cloacella were by far the commonest species netted with about 2 in 3 species netted being one of these!

On specimen of Pseudargyrotoza conwagana did stand out with it's dark markings, all of the others were very pale yellow.

 Of note was a second record for the site of the uncommon Phtheochroa sodaliana.

 I will be back soon to try again at dusk and hopefully into the night as well.

Clepsis consimilana












Nemapogon cloacella











Phtheochroa sodaliana











Pseudargyrotoza conwagana













Shaded Pug











Small Dusty Wave











Stenoptilia pterodactyla

Posted by Bennyboymothman at 11:47