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 13 May 2020

Daily permitted dusk walk, pt2

It was just about warm enough to get me out once again on chalk grassland yesterday, with highs of 14c (not great for nearly the middle of May I must add), it was holding up at dusk at around 10c.

 Lots of moths were observed and netted over a period of roughly 90 minutes, mainly Green Carpet, Common Carpet and Scoparia ambigualis, all clearly peaking here at the moment.

 There were a few specials amongst the repetition, Purple Bar, Shaded Pug and Notocelia trimaculana mixed it up a bit.
But two micros were the highlight, Stephensia brunnichella (sadly very worn but still sporting the diagnostic white line 2/3rd of the way down it's antennae, thanks to Graeme & Colin for pointing this out).
The best was Phyllonorycter acerifoliella, a common and fairly widespread moth in the County, and easy to find as a mine.. it was nice to catch up with an adult. A new moth for me! 
Field Maple (Acer) is very dominant at this reserve, it's foodplant.

12/05/20 - Hexton Chalkpit - North-West Herts 

Macro Moths

Brimstone Moth 1
Common Carpet 2
Common Pug 3
Green Carpet 30+
Purple Bar 1
Shaded Pug 1
Silver-ground Carpet 1
Small Waved Umber 1

Micro Moths

Cauchas fibulella 1
Cochylimorpha straminea 15+
Notocelia trimaculana 1
Nematopogon metaxella 8
Phyllonorycter acerifoliella [NEW!]
Scoparia ambigualis 15+
Stephensia brunnichella 1
Cauchas fibulella

Notocelia trimaculana

Phyllonorycter acerifoliella

Purple Bar

Scoparia ambigualis

Shaded Pug
Posted by Bennyboymothman at 20:26

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