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

Saturday, 24 April 2021

The current state affairs with moths in my garden

Lets reflect back to the last two years, I quote a post from my blog on the 25/04/20 
 
''On this date last year, I was only on 55 species! So I am now 25 species ahead in 2020!
Garden species count for 2020 now upto 80.''
 
Currently this year, after adding 3 species today (2 last night) i'm on 34 for the year so a marked difference indeed.
My current theory is that the ground is rock hard, not allowing a lot of the Noctuid moths in particular, to emerge from their underground pupa.
This fits well with an Angle Shades that turned up last night, with just one wing, the other crumpled beyond repair. Could it have struggled to get out of the baked clay that makes up 90% of our surface soil around here?
The other moth was a smart Brimdled Beauty, already showing signs of flight wear though.
 
2 moths of 2 species under clear skies and 3c to my 15w Synergetic/15w Actinic trap.

The 3rd species was a bonus moth, found flying through our kitchen door this evening! an Epermenia chaerophyllella, a common moth here throughtout the year having two broods.
 
It's got to get better soon people, hasn't it?

Moth species for 2021 in the garden now stands at 34. 

Stevenage, North Herts
 
Angle Shades

Brindled Beauty

Epermenia chaerophyllella

 
 
 

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