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

Sunday 5 September 2021

An insane catch - Garden Trapping - Fordham - Cambridgeshire - 02/09/21

An even bigger catch than the previous night was unexpected, as it was only a shade warmer (14 degrees minimum), but maybe the drop in wind had helped.
A glut of Flounced Rustic made up nearly half the catch, all 112 of them! with Vine's a close second at 41 individuals.
Over 250 moths of 61 species in all, in fact they barely fit in my small really useful tub, trap.

The usual fare was found in and around the trap, and infact it took me nearly an hour to pot everything up from the fences and wall of the house and to pop them into trap to cover over for the day.
Some really stand-out moths were also potted up.
Best of all was a new moth for me, Evergestis limbata, a recent arrival to Cambridgeshire with 3 previous records over the last two years, stunning!
 
As if that wasn't good enough, a second new species for me was on the side of the trap in the evening, a tiny Cochylidia implicitana, specimen retained just in case it isn't this, but i've keyed it out as best as I can visually with my books and online resources.
 
Another shock was a late Wood Carpet (Nearly the latest record for Cambs, which was the 7th of September in 1969, the same year as the moon landing!).  

And finally a absolutely mint Small Ranunculus was another species I seldom see. 

Exhausting but rewarding! As I sat by the trap for a few hours late into the night, and arose at 4:30am.

Moth garden list stands at 106 species.

02/09/21 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap
 
Macro Moths
 
Blood-vein 1 [NFG]
Burnished Brass 1 [NFG] 
Small Ranunculus 1 [NFG]
Wood Carpet 1 [NFG]
Angle Shades 1
Bright-line Brown-eye 1
Cabbage Moth 6
Chinese Character 2
Common Wainscot 39
Coronet 2 
Double-striped Pug 8 
Flame Shoulder 8
Flounced Rustic 112
Green Carpet 5
Large Yellow Underwing 10
Latticed Heath 1
Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing 1
Light Emerald 4
Lime-speck Pug 1
Marbled Beauty 1
Orange Swift 1
Pale Mottled Willow2
Riband Wave 1
Setaceous Hebrew Character 25
Shuttle-shaped Dart 4
Small Dusty Wave 3
Smoky Wainscot 13
Snout 1
Spectacle 2
Square-spot Rustic 7
Straw Underwing 9
Treble Bar 1
Tree-lichen Beauty  2
Turnip Moth 16
Vine's Rustic 41
White point 15
Willow Beauty 10
Yellow Shell 4 
Yellow-barred Brindle 5

Micro Moths

Cochylidia implicitana 1 [NEW!] 
Evergestis limbata 1 [NEW!]
Bedellia somnulentella 1 [NFG]
Cameraria ohridella 1 [NFG] 
Cochylis dubitana 2 [NFG]
Cochylis molliculana 1 [NFG]
Cydia pomonella 1 [NFG]
Pyrausta aurata 1 [NFG] 
Tischeria ekebladella 1 [NFG]
Swammerdamia pyrella 1 [NFG]
Acleris variegana 2
Blastobasis adustella 3 
Celypha lacunana 1  
Coleophora sp 1 [TBC]
Emmelina monodactyla 3
Endrosis sarcitrella 1 
Epiphyas postvittana 4
Evergestis forficalis 4
Bryotropha domestica 1
Catoptria faslella 1


Wood Carpet

Swammerdamia pyrella

Small Ranunculus

Evergestis limbata

Cochylidia implicitana

Burnished Brass

Bedellia somnulentella

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