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

Sunday 31 March 2019

Three recent catches

Here are three of my recent catches from my suburban garden, here in North Herts, Stevenage.

Numbers have been still pretty crazy for my garden, despite cool temperatures most nights, it hasn't really put the moths off from flying.
This is my best March since moving here in 2012 for numbers, but not quite the best for species. 

I recently sorted my generously donated Skinner trap with some new electrics and painted it to stop it from rotting.
I have been using this trap on and off recently, but still using my MV at times as well.

Only one New For Year species has turned up in just over a week now, the gorgeously toned Early Thorn. 
It was great to get another Pine Beauty last night, usually featuring in my trap on one occasion a year, but sometimes missing, to get two this year is great, I compared the photos and luckily it's not the same returning specimen from a few weeks back, although a little tatty on the termen...I thought it was!

Still a huge lack of micro moths this year so far, which is a tad disappointing. 

Here are my recent lists from last week.

Garden species count for 2019 now upto 34.


Catch Report - Back Garden - Stevenage - 15w Actinic x2 + 15w Synergetic Skinner Trap

28/03/19

Macro Moths

Chestnut 2
Clouded Drab 6
Common Quaker 26
Early Grey 2
March Moth 1
Small Quaker 9
Twin-spotted Quaker 1

Micro Moths

Diurnea fagella
Emmelina monodactyla 6

Catch Report - Back Garden - Stevenage - 1x 125w MV Robinson Trap

29/03/19

Macro Moths

Chestnut 1
Clouded Drab 7
Common Quaker 22
Double-striped Pug 2
Hebrew Character 9
Early Grey 3
Small Quaker 13
Twin-spotted Quaker 4

Micro Moths

Emmelina monodactyla 10

Catch Report - Back Garden - Stevenage - 15w Actinic x2 + 15w Synergetic Skinner Trap

30/03/19

Macro Moths

Early Thorn 1 [NFY]
Brindled Pug 1
Clouded Drab 6
Common Quaker 25
Double-striped Pug 3
Hebrew Character 11
Early Grey 1
Pine Beauty
Small Quaker 9
Twin-spotted Quaker 1

Micro Moths

Emmelina monodactyla 4

Brindled Pug

Clouded Drab

Early Thorn

Pine Beauties

Pine Beauty

Twin-spotted Quaker

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