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 1 May 2019

Field Trip - Basil's Park/Bramfield Woods - 30/04/19 - Hertfordshire

On the very last night of April, we decided to descend once again on Basil's Park here in Hertfordshire.
We are averaging one trip per week at the moment, which is giving us a broad range of species each time we visit.
We have also tried various areas of the rather large wooded areas, and Tuesday night was no different.

Trevor and Bill set up lights in the North, and North-West of the site, I myself had positioned 2 of my traps to the far East of the reserve over-looking a clearing currently showered with beautiful Bluebells, and then another two lights along the central ride.

The day had been fairly mild and peaked at around 17 degrees and was also nice and cloudy, and then the mothing gods cracked an evil smile and the clouds disappeared.
Upon finishing setting the last traps up, we could see our breathe in the torch lights, never a good sign before any moths arrive! 
It felt chilly, but we perservered and would give it until around midnight.

By 11pm it was freezing, the car read 7c, so we decided to pack up.

My spirit was further dampened by driving my car over a rather large mound and ripping the end off the under-tray, underneath my bonnet! Luckily it has survived to see another day.

By leaving time at quarter to midnight, it was now 5c.

Nevertheless, the hardy 3 of us recorded now less than 36 species of moth over 3 hours, although most were singletons, I didn't really expect to get north of 20 species during bracing conditions.

Below is the full list.


27 Macro and 9 Micro species recorded.

Total : 36 species 

11 species were added to the site list which now stands at 88 species over 3 trips.

Catch Report - 30/04/19 - Hertfordshire - 1x 250w Clear MV Robinson Trap, 1x 125w MV Robinson Trap, 1x twin 20w Wemite Actinic & 40w Actinic Trap & 1x 160w Mercury Blended Robinson Trap - 4 traps in total + 4 extra traps provided by Trevor and Bill

Macro Moths

Brimstone Moth 2
Brindled Pug 5
Chocolate-tip 1
Clouded Border 1

Common Carpet 1
Common Quaker 5
Dwarf Pug 6
Early Grey 1
Frosted Green 1
Least Black Arches 2
Lesser Swallow Prominent 1
Lobster Moth 1
Lunar Marbled Brown 3

Maiden's Blush 1
Nut-tree Tussock 15

Oak Nycteoline 1
Oak-tree Pug 5

Ochreous Pug 1
Pale Oak Beauty 1

Pale Tussock 2
Pebble Prominent 2 

Poplar Lutestring 1
Red-green Carpet 2
Scalloped Hazel 1

Seraphim 2
Spruce Carpet 3
Waved Umber 1


Micro Moths


Adela reamurella 5
Elachista rufocinerea 1
Epinotia immundana 1
Esperia sulphurella 2
Nematopogon swammerdamella 2
Parornix sp 1

Phyllonorycter corylifoliella 1
Phyllonorycter harrisella 1
Syndemis musculana 6


Elachista rufocinerea

Epinotia immundana

Maiden's Blush

Oak Nycteoline

Phyllonorycter corylifoliella

Poplar Lutestring

Seraphim

No comments:

Post a Comment