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

Saturday 22 July 2017

A change in weather yields a new moth

Wednesday (and as per a previous post) I was scheduled to go out but in brief my wife wasn't very well and the weather was a little iffy after a huge thunderstorm on Tuesday night with some localised downpours.
Conditions seemed better on Wednesday but the expected temperature of 28 degrees never materialised and we topped out at 22 degrees here, which is still relatively respectful.

The trap was set-up with the rain cover firmly on expecting more rain, which did come at some point in the night.

By the morning, the catch was quite pleasing with a new Tortrix moth for me and always a sweetner adding it to the garden list, Adoxophyes orana the Summer Fruit Tortrix and making it the 1st County record for Hertfordshire!

Other nice moths included a year first Tree-lichen Beauty, a moth that is increasing its range across the Country and the last 3 years it has been recorded from my garden.

Chinese Character was also very welcome and I have had just one record in 2013 and 2015 so far, so as you can see it is a bi-yearly singleton species and very consistent. 

Mompha propinquella returned after a 4 year absence, a pretty unusual little moth that is very photogenic.

Also I’m pretty sure I have both Acleris laterana and comariana, the latter a rare moth in Herts having caught the second County record many years ago on the farm, laterana would be a year first and comariana would be a garden first. Both will need dissecting to be 100% the photos look convincing. 

Epiblema costipunctana was back after its debut year last year, a thistle feeder and a most welcome second garden record.

And finally Zelleria hepariella was a new species of Micro Moth for the garden having recently recorded one at Scales Part in North-east Herts, not a common moth for me I must add. 

As I finish typing, Saturday has been a complete wash-out and last night's catch was completely sodden...more on that soon.

Catch Report - 19/07/17 - Back Garden - Stevenage - 1x 125w MV Robinson Trap
 
Macro Moths

1x Chinese Character [NFY]
1x Tree-lichen Beauty [NFY]
1x Bright-line Brown-eye
3x Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing
1x Buff Footman
2x Common Footman
11x Common Rustic
1x Common Wainscot
1x Dark Arches
1x Dingy Footman
2x Dot Moth
2x Dun-bar 
2x Elephant Hawk-moth
1x Grey Dagger
1x Haworth's Pug
1x Heart & Dart
1x July Highflyer
2x Least Carpet
2x Maple Pug
1x Mottled Beauty
1x Mottled Rustic
2x Nut-tree Tussock
1x Poplar Hawk-moth
1x Purple Thorn 
1x Red Twin-spot Carpet
14x Riband Wave
1x Rustic 
3x Scarce Footman
1x Scalloped Oak
2x Silver-Y
1x Smoky Wainscot
1x V-Pug
6x Uncertain
1x Yellow-tail

Micro Moths

1x Adoxophyes orana [NEW!]
1x Zelleria hepariella [NFG]
2x Acleris laterana/comariana [NFY] 
1x Agriphila tristella [NFY]
1x Eucosma conterminana [NFY]
1x Eucosma hohenwartiana [NFY] 
1x Mompha propinquella [NFY]
4x Pammene regiana
1x Prays fraxinella
1x Acleris forsskaleana  
1x Acrobasis advenella
2x Acrobasis suavella
10x Agriphila straminella
11x Blastobasis adustella
2x Chrysoteuchia culmella
1x Coleophora sp
2x Cameraria ohridella
1x Cnephasia sp
3x Cydia spledana 
7x Endotricha flammealis
18x Eudonia lacustrata
3x Eudonia mercurella
1x Euzophera pinguis
2x Oegoconia sp
1x Pammene aurita
2x Pandemis heparana
9x Pleuroptya ruralis 
2x Plutella xylostella
6x Spilonota ocellana
9x Yponomeuta evonymella
 
Adoxophyes orana













Agriphila tristella











Chinese Character











Epiblema costipunctana











Eucosma conterminana











Acleris laterana & comariana?










Mompha propinquella












Tree-lichen Beauty













Zelleria hepariella
 

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