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

Friday 5 July 2019

An epic storm of moths (Minus the rain)

Posting a little late, after being away for a week in Dorset.

What a night the 29th of June was, Saturday night had been warm and muggy and we were in for clear skies for most of the night, but luckoly the temperature still held up well.

A massive 26 new for year species were noted, and the trap was bursting at the seams come the morning.
I'm glad I plumped to fire up the 250w Clear bulb, my god that thing is devastating on warm nights. 

Highlights were a tentative Triaxomasia caprimulgella, new to Herts if correct. It looks good comparing to images on Lepiforum, to be dissected.

Also, the smart Syncopacma species sporting all black wings and a white band was also new for the garden, this will be dissected to species level in time.
Not content with two new for garden species, a third was found in the trap and two examples to boot...Dioryctria abietella. In fact it's the first Dioryctria to be added to the garden list in 7 years!

Macro moth highlights included, Blue-bordered Carpet, Miller and Rufous Minor (Which I managed to dissect myself...only just!).

Tonight is looking equally as warm temperature-wise after highs of 28 degrees today, I wonder what tomorrow morning will bring!




Garden species count for 2019 now upto 266.























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

29/06/19

Macro Moths

Blue-bordered Carpet 1 [NFY]
Clay 1 [NFY]
Common Footman 1 [NFY]
Common Rustic 1 [NFY]
Double Square-spot 2 [NFY]
Elephant Hawk-moth 2 [NFY]
Flame 1 [NFY]
Miller 1 [NFY]
Rufous Minor 1 [NFY] - Gen Det
Short-cloaked Minor 1 [NFY]
Small Fan-foot 1 [NFY]
Swallow-tailed Moth 2 [NFY]
Wormwood Pug 1 [NFY]

Micro Moths

Acentria ephemerella 3 [NFY]
Acrobasis repandana 1 [NFY]
Anarsia innoxiella 1 [NFY]
Crambus perlella 1 [NFY]
Dioryctria abietella 1 [NFG]
Epermenia chaerophyllella 1 [NFY]
Nemapogon cloacella 1 [NFY]
Parachronistis albiceps 1 [NFY]
Parapoynx stratiotata 1 [NFY]
Syncopacma sp 1 [NFG] To be gen det
Triaxomasia caprimulgella 1 [NFG] To be gen det
Udea prunalis 2 [NFY]
Ypsolopha sequella 1 [NFY]

Acrobasis repandana

Anarsia innoxiella

Blue-bordered Carpet

Clay

Common Footman

Dioryctria abietella 1

Dioryctria abietella 2

Double Square-spot

Flame

Miller

Parapoynx stratiotata

Rufous Minor

Syncopacma sp

Triaxomasia caprimulgella?

Udea prunalis

Ypsolopha sequella

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