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

Tuesday 13 June 2023

Getting busy!

With highs of 28 degrees on Saturday and wall to wall sunshine, it was a very warm day and a barbeque was enjoyed on both days of the weekend with family.

I did a field trip locally to Chippenham Fen, and returned back home at half past two, went outside to check the home trap, and it was heaving, potting moths that I recognised as new for year whilst getting bitten by lots of bitey flies.
2hrs sleep later I was up sorting through the trap, a very mild night and it felt pleasant even at 4:30am, indeed it didn't drop below 16.5c.
 
I logged nearly 70 species, the best night of the year so far, with 18 species new for the year.
 
Below are the new for year species, I just don't have the time to list every single species. 
 
Notice how most and nearly all are single moths of each species, I thought this was odd and probably down to how poor this year has been so far, and how dry and hot it was last year (pupa getting baked alive), but then I look back 2, 3, 10 years and it seems about on par for a regular garden.
 
Things still continue to be busy here with more new species showing up every night.


Moth garden list for 2023 stands at 225 species


10/06/23 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Common Marbled Carpet 1 [NFY]
Eyed Hawk-moth 1 [NFY]
Foxglove Pug 1 [NFG]
Grey Pug 1 [NFY]  
Middle-barred Minor 1 [NFY]
Poplar Kitten 1 [NFY]
Purple Bar 1 [NFY]
Riband Wave 1 [NFY]
Small Blood-vein 1 [NFY]

 
Micro Moths
 
Bucculatrix bechsteinella 1 [NFY] 
Cochylis molliculana 2 [NFY]
Cydia inquinatana 1 [NFY] 
Elachista argentella 1 [NFY]
Etainia decentella 1 [NFY]
Homoeosoma nebulella 1 [NFY]
Notocelia trimaculana 3 [NFY]
Platytes cerussella 1 [NFY]
Eucosma cana 1 [NFY]

Cochylis molliculana

Common Marbled Carpet

Cydia inquinatana

Eucosma cana

Eyed Hawk-moth

Toadflax Pug

Homoeosoma nebulella

Platytes cerussella

Poplar Kitten

Riband Wave



Posted by Bennyboymothman at 20:27

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