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

Thursday 12 November 2020

Unseasonal temperatures, migrants and a shockingly early record

Some really good catches here in my Stevenage garden this week, owing to subliminal temperatures for this time of year (16 degrees daytime and minimums overnight of 12 is quite ridiculous for November).

The trend is set to continue for another week it seems.

Over 2 nights I managed 3 new for years and 2 new for garden. I finally got my finger out and went through 8 Epirrita species this afternoon with a hand lens, a steady hand and patience, 2 I fudged up and couldn't work out what I was looking at (tricky through a x10 hand lens), the 3rd correlated exactly to a November Moth, then the 4th the same.. then the 5th a Pale which was pleasing, 6th another November and then the 7th BINGO, a tenatative initial ID of Autumnal Moth was correct! The 8th, yep... another November Moth. Very pleased.

Of other significance, 08/11/20 was to be my earliest Common Quaker, and probably the earliest for Hertfordshire.

And on the migrant front, a Vestal on Tuesday night was only my third garden record since 2012 (2 last seen in 2013).

Although i'm pleased with these records, it's also rather worrying that i've been working outside in a t-shirt all week!

Catch Reports - Back Garden - Stevenage - North Herts

09/11/20 - 250w Clear MV Robinson Trap

31 moths of 13 species

Macro Moths

Dark Chestnut 1 [NFY]
Scarce Umber 1 [NFY]
Brick 1
November Moth 5
Red-green Carpet 1
Satellite 1
Silver-Y 5
Sprawler 1
Yellow-line Quaker 3

Micro Moths

Carcina quercana 1
Epiphyas postvittana 4
Plutella xylostella 4
Tachystola acroxantha 2


Catch Reports - Back Garden - Stevenage - North Herts

10/11/20 - 250w Clear MV Robinson Trap

29 moths of 13 species

Macro Moths

Autumnal Moth 1 [NFG] - Dissected
Pale November Moth 1 [NFG] - Dissected
Vestal 1 [NFY]
Chestnut 3
Feathered Thorn 4
November Moth 6
Satellite 1
Scarce Umber 2
Sprawler 4
Yellow-line Quaker 1 

Micro Moths

Acleris sparsana 3
Epiphyas postvittana 1
Ypsolopha ustella 1

Autumnal Moth

Common Quaker

Dark Chestnut

Feathered Thorn

Pale November Moth

Scarce Umber

Vestal

Ypsolopha ustella


Posted by Bennyboymothman at 21:28

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