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 27 September 2021

A few milder nights and the moth diversity improves

The last three nights have been mild, with a minimum of 12 degrees, and still holding in high double-figures by midnight.
Consequently the moth numbers have increased to between 60 and 90 individuals with species on the 23rd/24th & 25th... 18, 25 & 26 species repectively.

Some truly remarkable moths have kept the garden alive here, as Autumn starts to kick in.

The first Sallow of the year on Friday night and a year first Merveille du Jour really are heralding the changing of the seasons.
Last night I ended up with 9 Beaded Chestnuts, more than I trapped in past 9 years in my old garden on just the one night!

But even better than that was a Feathered Ranunculus found by my son on Saturday morning as he was going out to play in the garden. He spotted it under the side of the back door mat! I must have missed it doing my regular morning routine!!
It is only the second record for the County, and last recorded in 1998 (Unless there any recent records). With this, and another really good moth last night (L-album Wainscot) maybe they are migrants? Or just wanderers from southern and coastal populations.
The L-album is another rare moth here in Cambs with just 3 previous records.

My son's favourite colour is green, and you can imagine his excitement this morning upon showing him 'the merv' he ran upstairs shouting ''mummy'' ''mummy'', ''look daddy found a green moth!''

On top of that, two rather chunky female Large Wainscot's, and a much smaller male were also in the trap.

There is one micro moth to check, possibly an Ocnerostoma sp, but it won't sit still currently.

Below are the new species for the year.

Moth garden list stands at 192 species.

23/09/21 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap
 
Micro Moths
 
Tachystola acroxantha 1 [NFG]
 
24/09/21 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap
 
Macro Moths
 
Beaded Chestnut 3 [NFG]
Feathered Ranuculus 1 [NFG]
Sallow 1 [NFG]

Micro Moths
 
Ocnerostoma sp? 1 TBC
 
25/09/21 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap
 
Macro Moths
 
L-album Wainscot 1 [NFG]
Large Wainscot 3 [NFG]
Merveille du Jour 1 [NFG]


Tachystola acroxantha

Sallow

Ocnerostoma sp? TBC
 
Merveille du Jour

Large Wainscot - Male

Large Wainscot - Female

L-album Wainscot

Feathered Ranunculus

Beaded Chestnut

Posted by Bennyboymothman at 09:02

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)