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

Friday 15 April 2022

First field trip of the year - Chippenham Fen - 12/04/22

I decided to do my first field trip nice and local, just incase I had any problems with my equipment. Luckily, all went smooth.
Chippenham Fen is a mere 4 minute drive from where I live and is a superb habitat, I consider myself very lucky to have a few nature reserves on my doorstep.
As with every field trip, there was plenty of planning involved and lugging heavy equipment.
 
But, it was certainly worth it! After a warm day of around 19 degrees and the night-time lows of around 10 celsius at 5am (It was 12c at packing up time at midnight)
We did have a bit of rain in the evening, and this persisted as extremely light drizzle up until about 10pm, but the moths didn't mind.
Species were well represented, numbers less so and i'm certainly noticing as the years go by that it's becoming rarer to get large amounts of the common species.

I ran 4 traps from sunset to midnight and recorded 39 species in total.

Highlights were plentiful, top of my list was a Female Emperor Moth!! Unbelievable to finally get one and such a perfect specimen as well.
Other top moths, were both Acleris cristana & hastiana, the latter species a new form was noted.
Also a lovely 'pink-flushed' Caloptilia elongella and some fresh V-Pug

A very successful start to the season.

12/04/22 - Chippenham Fen - East Cambridgeshire - 4 traps, 160w MBT Trap, 125w Mercury Robinson Trap, 250w Clear Mercury Robinson Trap and Actinic Trap


Macro Moths

Brindled Pug 2
Chinese Character 1
Clouded Drab 5
Common Quaker 5
Double-striped Pug 1
Early Thorn 1
Early Tooth-striped 5
Emperor Moth 1
Engrailed 6
Hebrew Character 5
Least Black Arches 5
March Moth 4
Nut-tree Tussock 12
Oak Beauty 2
Oak-tree Pug 1
Pebble Hook-tip 1
Red Chestnut 2
Red-green Carpet 1
Satellite 1
Scorched Carpet 1
Streamer 1
V-Pug 2
Water Carpet 1

Micro Moths 

Acleris cristana 1
Acleris hastiana 2
Agonopterix alstromeriana 1
Agonopterix arenella 1
Caloptilia elongella 1
Caloptilia rufipennella 1
Dyseriocrania subpurpurella 2
Elachista canapennella 2
Emmelina monodactyla 2
Epinotia immundana 12
Eriocrania sangi semipurpurella 3
Euspilapteryx auroguttella 1
Ypsolopha mucronella 1 

160w MBT Trap

Acleris cristana

Acleris hastiana

Acleris hastiana

Caloptilia elongella

Caloptilia rufipennella

Chinese Character

Early Tooth-striped

Emperor Moth

Eriocrania sangi/semipurpurella sp

Euspilapteryx aurogutella

Least Black Arches

V-Pug

Ypsolopha mucronella


 

Posted by Bennyboymothman at 19:58

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