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

Tuesday 29 June 2021

Weston Park - Field Trip - 24/06/21

I made my first trip of the year to Weston Park last Thursday, a mere 8 minute drive and 2.7 miles from my house, so perfect for a weekday trip out when I have work the next day.
I was invited last September to run some traps, and on that preliminary visit, it was a really good catch.

The habitat is very diverse. Grassland, mature trees, hedgerows and beautiful gardens, where to position the traps was the hardest part!
I chose to run 3 traps, one at the edge of the gardens, and two overlooking grassland and woodland.
Whilst setting up, I netted several species. Tortrix viridana (From Oak) and Argyresthia curvella (From Apple), to name just a couple of moths that were sitting on their foodplants.
In fact, Tortrix viridana was the most common moth of the night, I could have probably counted close to 200 if I tried.
Unfortunately as the early evening was so humid, the Cleg Fly's were out in force which made it a pain setting up. It's a good job they don't worry you at night! 

All in all I logged 109 species, a great variety and some really good species were recorded.

Highlights for me were two Red-necked Footman, two nice Plume moths, a huge female Pandemis cerasana (I can't remember if i've seen a female before, these are a sexually dimorphic species), and some super fresh moths in the form of Sallow Kitten, Shoulder-striped Wainscot and Scoparia pyralella.

I ran the traps for around 2 and a half hours, the next time I go here I may stay a little longer as on this ocassion, tiredness got the better of me!

Thanks to John the landowner for allowing me access once again.

Catch Report - Weston Park - Hertfordshire - 24/06/21 - 3 traps - 1x 125w MV Trap, 1x Twin 15w Actinic Trap & 1x 160w Mercury Blended Trap

53 Macro Moth species & 56 Micro Moth species - 109 species in total

Macro Moths
 
Angle Shades
Barred Straw
Beautiful Hook-tip
Brimstone Moth
Broken-barred Carpet
Clouded Silver
Common Marbled Carpet
Common Pug
Common Swift
Common Wainscot
Coronet 
Dark Arches
Dwarf Pug
Flame Shoulder
Garden Carpet
Green Carpet
Green Silver Lines
Grey-pine Carpet
Heart & Club
Heart & Dart
Ingrailed Clay
Large Nutmeg
Large Yellow Underwing
Light Emerald
Lime Hawk- Moth 
Lime-speck Pug
Lobster Moth
Marbled Minor agg
Middle-barred Minor
Mottled Beauty
Pale Tussock
Peppered Moth
Poplar Grey
Red-necked Footman
Sallow Kitten
Scorched Wing
Setaceous Hebrew Character
Shoulder-striped Wainscot
Shuttle-shaped Dart
Silver-ground Carpet
Sloe Pug
Small Elephant Hawk-moth
Smoky Wainscot
Snout
Straw Dot
Treble Brown Spot
Treble Lines
Valerian Pug
Vine's Rustic
White Ermine
White Point
Willow Beauty
Yellow Shell  
 
Micro Moths 
 
Acentria ephemerella
Agapeta hamana
Aleimma loeflingiana
Anthophila fabriciana
Aphomia sociella
Archips crataegana
Archips podana
Archips xylosteana
Argyresthia curvella
Argyresthia spinosella
Bryotropha terrella
Carcina quercana
Celypha lacunana
Chrysoteuchia culmella 
Cnephasia sp
Cochylimorpha straminea
Cochylis molliculana
Coleophora alcyonipennella
Coleophora mayrella
Coleophora sp TBC
Crambus lathoniellus
Crambus perlella
Crassa unitella
Cydia fagiglandana
Cydia splendana
Ectoedemia sp
Elachista canapennella
Emmetia marginea
Endrosis sarcitrella
Ephestia sp
Epiphyas postvittana
Eucosma cana
Eucosma hohenwartiana
Eucosma obumbratana
Hedya nubiferana
Hedya pruniana
Hofmannophila pseudospretella
Homoeosoma sinnuella 
Marasmarcha lunaedactyla
Metzneria metzneriella
Nemapogon schwarziellus
Notocelia trimaculana sp
Notocelia uddmanniana
Pandemis cerasana
Paraswammerdamia albicapitella
Plutella xylostella
Pseudargyrotoza conwagana
Pterophorus pentadactyla
Scoparia pyralella
Spilonota ocellana
Stenoptilia pterodactyla
Teleiodes luculella
Tinea semifulvella
Tischeria eklebladella
Tortrix viridana
Udea olivalis
 
 
Shoulder-striped Wainscot

Scoparia pyralella

Sallow Kitten

Red-necked Footman

Paraswammerdamia albicapitella

Pandemis cerasana

Marasmarcha lunaedactyla

Eucosma obumbratana

Eucosma hohenwartiana

Crambus perlella

Coleophora sp TBC

Coleophora mayrella 

Coleophora alcyonipennella

Argyresthia curvella

Posted by Bennyboymothman at 21:00

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