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

Wednesday 8 June 2022

Best catch from the garden trap so far

Wow wee, what a busy night it was last night.
The day had been warm, and we had plenty of cloud cover at dusk and with high humidity and little breeze, I just knew it was going to be a good night, and that it was!
The threat of a storm when setting up at 8pm got me a little windy and I contemplating not leaving trays on the outside of the trap, but after an hour the angry looking clouds had passed us and we were left with very still conditions.
That was until this morning when I was going through the trap at 5am, torrential was the rain and I got soaked, so did a lot of the catch, and it was frantic potting up all of the new species for the year, and there were lots!
The best moth of the night easily went to a small boring on-descript sad looking grass moth, that on first glance resembles the common Chrysoteuchia culmella, but this moth was half the size, dark brown and with distinct black tufty palps. It was to be my first Platytes cerussella, a moth from these parts, and from what I can tell, isn't even on the Hertfordshire moth list.
A wanderer probably from the nearby Brecks.

Other highlights included Bucculatrix albedinella, Coleophora albitarsella, Eupoecilia angustana, Grapholita janthinana & Grapholita tenebrosana, Lunar Yellow Underwing, Royal Mantle and Varied Coronet.
Really too many to fully list, which is listed fully below.
 
A Coleophora and Stigmella are pending dissection which have been retained. 
 
Last nights mega catch now takes me over the 300 species for the year mark, and my garden list now stands at 433 since the end of August 2021.

And breathe, I need a night off from the onslaught!

Moth garden list for 2022 stands at 305 species

07/06/22 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap
 
Macro Moths

Barred Straw 1 [NFG]
Beautiful Hook-tip 4 [NFY]
Brown Rustic 1 [NFG]
Least Carpet 1 [NFY]
Light Arches 1 [NFY]
Lunar Yellow Underwing 1 [NFY]
Royal Mantle 1 [NFG]
Varied Coronet 2 [NFG]

Bordered White 1
Bright-line Brown-eye 1
Brimstone Moth 1
Clouded Silver 1
Common Carpet 1
Common Pug 1
Common Swift 1
Common Wainscot 2
Coronet 1
Coxcomb Prominent 1
Dark Arches 2
Dark Spectacle 1
Double-striped Pug 2
Elephant Hawk-moth 4
Figure of Eighty 3
Flame 1
Flame Shoulder 1
Garden Carpet 2
Green Carpet 1
Green Pug 8
Grey-pine Carpet 1
Heart & Dart 1
Large Nutmeg 4
Light Brocade 1
Light Emerald 1
Marbled Minor sp 8
Miller 1
Mottled Pug 5
Mottled Rustic 1
Orange Footman 2
Pale Mottled Willow 2
Pale Oak Beauty 1
Pale Pinion 1
Peppered Moth 1
Pine Hawk-moth 1 
Poplar Grey 2
Rustic Shoulder-knot 1
Setaceous Hebrew Character 1
Shark 2
Shears 1
Shuttle-shaped Dart 1
Small Dusty Wave 3
Small Elephant Hawk-moth 5
Snout 1
Spectacle 2
Swallow Prominent 1
Sycamore 3
Treble-lines 2
Turnip Moth 1
Vine's Rustic 1
White-point 2
Willow Beauty 10
 
Micro Moths
 
Archips crataegana 1 [NFG]
Bucculatrix albedinella 1 [NFG]
Carpatolechia proximella 1 [NFG]
Chrysoteuchia culmella 2 [NFY]
Coleophora albitarsella 1 [NFG]
Crambus perlella 1 [NFG]
Elachista canapennella 1 [NFY]
Ethmia dodecea 1 [NFG]
Eupoecilia angustana 1 [NFG]
Euzophera pinguis 2 [NFG]
Grapholita janthinana 2 [NFG]
Grapholita tenebrosana 2 [NFG]
Mompha ochraceella 1 [NFG]
Nematopogon metaxella 1 [NFG]
Platytes cerussella 1 [NEW!]
Aphomia sociella 4
Argyresthia cupressella 2
Blastobasis lacticolella 1
Blastodacna hellerella 2
Bryotropha affinis 1
Bryotropha terrella 1
Bucculatrix bechensteinella 1
Bucculatrix nigricomella 1
Celypha lacunana 1
Celypha striana 1
Cochylis atricapitana 1
Cochylis molliculana 1
Coleophora sp 1 (TBC)
Crambus lathoniellus 2
Elachista albifrontella 1
Elachista humilis/canapennella? 1
Ephestia sp 10
Epiphyas postvittana 5
Eudonia mercurella 1
Grapholita funebrana 2
Hedya pruniana 1
Hedya nubiferana 1
Hofmannophila pseudospretella 2
Homoeosoma sinnuella 1
Monopis crocicapitella 1
Mompha subbistrigella 2
Phtheochroa rugosana 1
Plutella xylostella 1
Scoparia ambigualis 1
Stigmella sp 1
Tinea trinotella 1
Tortrix viridana 5
 
Archips crataegana

Beautiful Hook-tip

Bucculatrix albedinella

Coleophora albitarsella

Eupoecilia angustana

Grapholita janthinana

Grapholita tenebrosana

Platytes cerussella

Royal Mantle

Varied Coronet

 

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