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

Monday 10 May 2021

Latest from the garden trap

Meagre catches are still being had in my garden here in Stevenage, North Herts, averaging just 4 species per trap outing. At least one new for year has appeared each time. 

I did however observe a male Incurvaria masculella flying in the sunshine at the bottom of the garden on Sunday, along with a Pyrausta aurata, that found itself inside my FUNEBRANA Lure trap, maybe accidental, who knows! Both were new for the year.

Highlight on Saturday night was not one, but 6 Elachista apicipunctella, an explosion for not a very common moth here in Herts.
I have 3 garden records, and not seen since 2016.
I tried to make some of them into albifrontella (without the third apical white blotch/dot) but failed.

Last night yielded a Toadflax Brocade which was nice.
 
Last but not least, yesterday my 3 year old found a hunking great caterpillar in the garden, a surpise Oak Eggar. This was a new moth for my garden only last year, it was a female. Maybe she laid eggs in the garden? who knows.

Moth species for 2021 in the garden now stands at 43.

08/05/21 - Back Garden - Stevenage - North Herts - 125w Clear MV Robinson Trap

Macro Moths

Common Quaker 1
Double-striped Pug 1
Hebrew Character 1
 
Micro Moths
 
Elachista apicipunctella 6 [NFY]
Plutella xylostella 3 [NFY]

08/05/21 - Back Garden - Stevenage - North Herts -Daytime Finds

Incurvaria masculella 1 [NFY]
Pyrausta aurata (to FUN lure) 1 [NFY]
 
09/05/21 - Back Garden - Stevenage - North Herts - 125w MV Robinson Trap

Macro Moths

Toadflax Brocade 1 [NFY]
Brindled Pug 5
 
Micro Moths
 
Emmelina monodactyla 1
Epiphyas postvittana 3
 
 
 
Toadflax Brocade

Pyrausta aurata to FUN lure

Oak Eggar

Elachista apicipunctella

Elachista apicipunctella's


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