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 28 May 2022

A few micros from a daytime wander recently

3 moth species of note found in rough meadow grassland amongst 10 species flying in the afternoon sunshine, Coleophora amethystinella, Elachista freyerella/consortella and Pammene rhediella.

The latter two are new moths for me, Pammene rhediella is a scarce species with just two previous Cambs records; Wicken Fen (1905) and Fidwell Fen (2007). I've been unlucky in not seeing this species in other counties over the last 17 years, but to finally bag one in a county where it's rare is the icing on the cake.

Elachista freyerella/consortella is a tricky pair, both are dissection species so the specimen was retained, either species would be new to me.

And finally Coleophora amethystinella, which 10 years ago was non-existent in the East. In recent years it's spread rapidly around Herts, Beds, Essex and Cambs, the field margin was full of them as I walked through the long grass, in their hundreds probably as they were kicking up from their foodplant, Smooth Tare.
 
Coleophora amethystinella

Elachista freyerella/consortella

Pammene rhediella

 
Posted by Bennyboymothman at 19:50

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