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

Monday 22 April 2019

7 new for year species added from the day and night!

Saturday was a very warm day, with highs of 24c and unbroken sunshine.
I decided to do some weeding and tidying of the hedging and disturbed 2 micro moths whilst doing it.
Both Agonopterix purpurea and Esperia sulphurella were new for the year, the former is only the third garden record, and quite possibly the tiniest Agonopterix on the menu at 8mm long.

The trap was setup to come on at 7:45pm and there really wasn't much before bedtime, apart from a stunning Purple Thorn that I could see through the collar of the trap and a bright Brimstone Moth that had alighted on the house wall.
A rather late post-hibernation Satellite was also found underneath the choke housing.

By the morning there were a further 3 new for year species which was most pleasing despite lows of 6.2c

Garden species count for 2019 now upto 52.

Catch Report - Back Garden - Stevenage - 125w Robinson Trap

20/04/19

Daytime

Agonopterix purpurea 1 [NFY]
Esperia sulphurella 1 [NFY]

Macro Moths

Brimstone Moth 2 [NFY]
Purple Thorn 1 [NFY]
Spectacle 1 [NFY]
Double-striped Pug 3
Early Grey 2
Frosted Green 1
Lunar Marbled Brown 1
Nut-tree Tussock 2
Satellite

Micro Moths


Alucita hexadactyla 1 [NFY]
Dyseriocrania subpurpurella 1 [NFY]
Emmelina monodactyla 7
Amblyptilia acanthdactyla 2

Agonopterix purpurea

Dyseriocrania subpurpurella

Esperia sulphurella

Purple Thorn

Satellite

Spectacle

Spectacle

Brimstone Moth

Incurvaria masculella

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