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 23 May 2022

Elephants in pink pyjamas

The Elephant Hawk-moths have now arrived here in my Fordham trap, with two beautifully fresh examples turning up on Saturday night, this is the third species of Hawk-moth so far this year (After Lime & Poplar). 
A cooler night on Saturday with clearing skies and a dip to 9c affected numbers slightly, but to still be adding new species for the year on a nightly basis is extremely satisfying.
I have now taken to driving the previous nights moths the other side of the local woods and then pop them in the hedgerows there, thus they are then far enough away to not be disturbed and they don't get eaten by the local wild aviary!
Birds... lovely to see (I'm not use to so many, as my previous garden in Stevenage was lousy with cats, I lost count on how many Tinkerbells and Mitten's that came into our garden), but the negative is that they've found my moth platter!

Highlights for me (Elephants aside) were two good micro species, firstly Grapholita lobarzewskii was new for the garden, a lovely golden colour and easily seperable from janthinana on this ground-colour alone. 
The second interesting micro, was a Coleophora, which seemed similar or the same as the one that I found in my Cydia zebeana lure on Thursday. Coleophora violacea is the favourite currently. Both retained to be inspected further (I've now had a 2nd to the lure today, putting to bed the fluke theory that was going through my head).

Moth garden list for 2022 stands at 237 species

21/05/22 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap
 
Macro Moths
 
Elephant Hawk-moth 2 [NFG]
Mottled Rustic 1 [NFG]
Buff-tip 1
Common Swift 3
Green Carpet 2
Iron Prominent 5
Large Nutmeg 2
Light Brocade 1
Pale Tussock 5
Rustic Shoulder-knot 2
Treble Lines 5
Shuttle-shaped Dart 1
White Ermine 3
Willow Beauty 1
Yellow-barred Brindle 5
 
Micro Moths
 
Coleophora sp pos violacea 1 [NFG]
Grapholita lobarzewskii 1 [NFG] 
Homoeosoma sinuella 1 [NFG]
Epiphyas postvittana 2
Platyedra subcinerea 2
Plutella xylostella 2

Elephant Hawk-moth

Coleophora sp pos violacea

Grapholita lobarzewskii

Homoeosoma sinuella

Mottled Rustic


Posted by Bennyboymothman at 20:56

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