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, I have now removed commenting as the bots were starting to appear
Contact Email : bensale@rocketmail.com

My Latest Notables and Rarities

Tuesday, 16 August 2022

Fairly quiet but another nice surprise

I trapped on Sunday night here in Fordham, East Cambs expecting a good haul as it was so warm with a lot of cloud cover.
The catch wasn't as great as I could have perhaps anticipated, but it was fantastic to trap the second Bordered Straw of the year in the garden.
Also I added the miniscule plume that is Adaina microdactyla to my garden list, which now stands at 657 species in just under 12 months.

Going through the trap as I do at around 5am currently (to beat the local Robins & Blackbirds) I noticed a big fat Caterpillar crawling along the sheet by the patio door, instantly recognisable as a Toadflax Brocade.
I get the moth infrequently here in the garden and I found some tiny caterpillars of them a few months back that literally just vanished one day.
Now I guess they are wandering all over the shop, looking for a suitable place to pupate.

Then the rain came yesterday afternoon and softened the ground for the pupa.
Last night's catch was almost double this catch, with 50 species and a great showing of macro moths once more, including lots of Noctuids. A coincidence? I think not.

Moth garden list for 2022 stands at 597 species

14/08/22 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap
 
Macro Moths
 
Bordered Straw (2nd garden record)

Micro Moths

Adaina microdactyla 1 [NFG]

Adaina microdactyla

Bordered Straw

Toadflax Brocade Caterpillar


Posted by Bennyboymothman at 20:16