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 16 October 2021

Latest from the moth trap - 14/10/21 - Fordham Garden

A rather mild day on Thursday with highs of 18 degrees, so unseasonal for mid-October, to say the least! The night stayed well about average as well, with lows of 13 degrees.
 
A fair few moths were found in and around the trap, 19 species in total.
 
November Moth was the only new for year species, confirmed by dissection today under a hand lens. Leslie Gardiner dropped round another smaller and paler Epirrita specimen, and I duly examined it this afternoon as well. 
It turned out to be a different species which is great! A Pale November Moth, with extremely narrow claspers, it certainly lived upto it's name as it is almost white!
Both were Males with pectinate antennae.

Other than that, it was great to see a little more variety with a second garden record of Juniper Carpet which is such a smart looking moth.
And two more fresh Carpet species, a late Common Marbled & Garden.

Dark Chestnut was also my second garden record, another mint specimen.
 
A Monopis was double-checked, and showing light hindwings making it crocicapitella (Which has been abundant here, and as yet, no obviella).

Moth garden list stands at 208 species.

14/10/21 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap
 
Macro Moths
 
November Moth 1 [NFG]
Angle Shades 1
Beaded Chestnut 2
Common Marbled Carpet 1
Dark Chestnut 1
Garden Carpet 1
Green-brindled Crescent 3
Large Wainscot 1
Lesser Yellow Underwing 4
Lunar Underwing 2
Mallow 1
Red-green Carpet 3

Micro Moths 
 
Agonopterix alstromeriana 1
Cydalima perspectalis 5
Emmelina monodatyla 2 
Epiphyas postvittana 3
Galleria mellonella 1
Monopis crocicapitella 1
Plutella xylostella 1
Common Marbled Carpet

Dark Chestnut

Garden Carpet

Juniper Carpet

Monopis crocicapitella

November Moth

Pale November Moth (Leslie Gardiner)


No comments:

Post a Comment