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

Thursday 29 June 2023

Blinded by the light, another blinding night

Another huge catch, a repeat of the night before but with lots of new species for the year and also for the garden.
June has gone out with a serious bang here. Numbers still not huge I must add, but the species keep racking up at a rate of knots that i've not experienced here yet (although this only being my 2nd full year).
Blackneck was a great and probably expected new for garden species, being in wetland territory and I managed two of them in one night. 
Lackey was another new species for the garden list, sadly I found it upside down in a puddle of water as we had a passing heavy thundery shower early evening, still, although bedraggled he dried out fairly quickly and was on his merry way.

My son Tommie was entralled by two of the big boys, both Poplar Hawk-moth and Goat Moth were really easy to handle and Tommie loved feeling the grippy feet of the hawk!
 
But... it was the micros that impressed. With 21 added to the year list, and 6 of them new for the garden!

A possible Nemapogon variatella came to the API lure. With it's very white head i'm hopeful that it is this species, dissection will reveal.
Another species kept for dissection, was a dark Sorhagenia sp, one of 3 possibles and all rare here in Cambs, any would be new for the garden.

Other star micros included new for me Eucosma metzneriana and the tiny Ectoedemia heringella.

Only new for year species listed below.


Moth garden list for 2023 stands at 384 species
 

23/06/23 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths
 
Blackneck 2 [NFG]
Flame 1 [NFY]
Goat Moth 1 [NFY]
Lackey 1 [NFG]
Poplar Hawk-moth 1 [NFY]
Short-cloaked Moth 1 [NFY]
Small Emerald 1 [NFY]

Micro Moths

Acleris schalleriana 1 [NFY]
Bedellia somnulentella 1 [NFY]
Bucculatrix cidarella 1 [NFG]
Cochylis dubitana 1 [NFY]
Cosmopterix scribaiella 1 [NFG]
Ectoedemia heringella 1 [NFG]
Elachista freyerella 1 [NFY]
Epiblema foenella 1 [NFY]
Eucosma metzneriana 1 [NFG]
Hypochalcia ahenella 1 [NFY]
Hypsopygia costalis 2 [NFY]
Hypsopygia glaucinalis 1 [NFY]
Lozotaeniodes formosana 1 [NFY]
Marasmarcha lunaedactyla 4 [NFY]
Monochroa lucidella 1 [NFY]
Nemapogon variatella 1 [TBC Not added]
Nymphula nitidulata 1 [NFG]
Pandemis heparana 1 [NFY]
Rhyacionia buoliana 1 [NFY]
Sciota adelphella 1 [NFY] 
Sorhagenia sp 1 [NFG]
Vitula biviella 1 [NFY]

Acleris schalleriana

Anarsia innoxiella

Blackneck

Dichrorampha petiverella

Ectoedemia heringella

Epiblema foenella

Eucosma metzneriana

Tommie and the big girls

Lozotaeniodes formosana

Small Emerald

Sorhagenia sp



Posted by Bennyboymothman at 20:05

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