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 20 September 2017

Shades of Autumn showing

Talking about sandy coloured Lunar Underwing's in my last post, I trapped one on Monday night amongst a modest haul of moths and some new for year species.

Of all of the species from the night I was most pleased with a Treble-bar that I haven't recorded since 2013, in fact it's only the fourth garden record with 2 in 2012 and 1 in 2013, a supposedly common moth but one I rarely record in my garden.
The abdomen was checked for Lesser Treble-bar (Which would be new to the garden if it was so!).

A nice splash of Autumnal colours was provided by 4 'Sallow' moths, 3 Barred and 1 normal Sallow, such beauties.

Micro moths are still pretty scarce but a rather tatty Acleris sparsana was new for the year and it was nice to see my 5th Ypsolopha sequella which is having a good year here. 

The weather looks set to warm up a shade with night time temperatures not set to drop into single figures for a while.

Also whilst looking around the garden for any moths I missed I stumbled upon a fully grown Vapourer Moth caterpillar, probably lookingfor somewhere to pupate.
 
Catch Report - 18/09/17 - Back Garden - Stevenage - 1x 125w MV Robinson Trap

Macro Moths

1x Sallow [NFY]
1x Treble-bar [NFY]
2x Angle Shades 
3x Barred Sallow
5x Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing 
1x Common Marbled Carpet
1x Garden Carpet
10x Large Yellow Underwing
2x Lesser Yellow Underwing
2x Light Emerald
5x Lunar Underwing
1x Pale Mottled Willow
2x Willow Beauty

Micro Moths

1x Acleris sparsana [NFY]
1x Amblypilia acanthadactyla
2x Epiphyas postvittana
1x Ypsolopha sequella

 
Acleris sparsana

Epiphyas postvittana

Lunar Underwing

Sallow

Treble-bar

Vapourer Moth Caterpillar

Posted by Bennyboymothman at 19:37

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