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 22 June 2023

Green Light Trust Survey - Suffolk - 16/06/23

I was invited to do a survey for the first time at the Green Light Trust in Lawshall, Suffolk last Friday night.
The day had been warm with little wind, and looked perfect for a baseline survey of the mixture of flowerbeds, grassland and young woodland/scrub.
Cloud was rolling in at dusk, but soon cleared by around 11pm and the temoperature felt cooler, particularly in the meadow away from the canopy.

I ran 3 lights of different outputs to try and entice different species of moth, and it worked! With a great range of species recorded over 4 hours.

Best moths went to two examples of Rannoch Looper, the second and third West Suffolk records.
Archips rosana was also good to see, a very localised moth, and with 4 examples seen, the moth is clearly well established here.
 
A Delicate provided some migrant excitement, a moth that may have travelled from as far as northern France or perhaps even further? Nota common moth for me, my third record in 18 years.

All in all it was good to see moths in good numbers despite the temperature being a little on the cool side, compared with recent standards.

I also ran a moth trap in my parents garden a stones throw away, but only had time to list the extra species that the Green Light Trust did not feature.

I'm hoping to be back at some point.
 
Many thanks to Debbie Thomas for organising access, and to Ian Carrington for giving me a fantastic guided tour of the premises and grounds.
Also thanks to Pamela Pope and her husband for coming along late at night, and returning in the morning to see the variety of moths the traps attracted.

16/06/23 - Green Light Trust - West Suffolk - 3 traps, 125w Mercury Robinson Trap, 160w MBT Trap and 62w Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Angle Shades
Beautiful Hook-tip
Blood-vein
Brimstone Moth
Brown Rustic
Buff Ermine
Buff-tip
Cabbage Moth
Cinnabar
Clouded Border
Common Footman
Common Marbled Carpet
Common Pug
Common Swift
Common Wainscot
Common Wave
Dark Arches
Delicate
Dwarf Cream Wave
Elephant Hawk-moth
Figure of Eighty
Flame Shoulder
Ghost Moth
Green Pug
Grey Pug
Heart & Club
Heart & Dart
Knot Grass
Large Yellow Underwing
Latticed Heath
Light Arches
Light Brocade
Light Emerald
Maiden's Blush
Marbled Minor
Middle-barred Minor
Mottled Beauty
Mottled Pug
Mottled Rustic
Nutmeg
Orange Footman
Pale Oak Beauty
Pale Prominent
Pale Tussock
Peppered Moth
Poplar Grey
Poplar Hawk-moth
Purple Bar
Rannoch Looper
Riband Wave
Rustic Shoulder-knot
Scorched Carpet
Scorched Wing
Setaceous Hebrew Character
Shears
Shuttle-shaped Dart
Silver-ground Carpet
Single-dotted Wave
Small Dusty Wave
Small Square-spot
Smoky Wainscot
Spectacle
Spruce Carpet
Treble Brown Spot
Treble Lines
Turnip Moth
Uncertain
Vine's Rustic
White Ermine
White-point
Willow Beauty
Yellow Shell

Micro Moths
 
Acentria ephemerella
Agapeta hamana
Agapeta zoegana
Agonopterix arenella
Aleimma loeflingiana
Anania hortulata
Aphomia sociella
Archips rosana
Blastobasis lacticolella
Bryotropha terrella
Celypha lacunana
Celypha striana
Chrysoteuchia culmella
Cochylimorpha straminea
Cochylis atricapitana
Cochylis hybridella
Cochylis molliculana
Coleophora alcyonipennella
Crambus lathoniellus
Crambus pascuella
Crambus perlella
Ephestia species
Eucosma cana
Eucosma hohenwartiana
Eudonia pallida
Hedya nubiferana
Hedya pruniana
Homoeosoma sinnuella
Mompha ochraceella
Mompha subbistrigella
Monopis laevigella
Myelois circumvoluta
Nematopogon metaxella
Nephopterix angustella
Notocelia cynosbatella
Notocelia trimaculana
Notocelia uddmanniana
Pandemis cerasana
Parapoynx stratiotata
Paraswammerdamia albicapitella
Plutella xylostella
Scoparia ambigualis
Scoparia pyralella
Sitochroa verticalis
Tinea semifulvella
Tinea trinotella
Tortrix viridana
Udea olivalis  
 
Extra species recorded in my parents garden locally
 
Least Carpet
Freyer's Pug
Pine Hawk-moth
Coronet
Burnished Brass
Clouded Silver
Varied Coronet
Lobster Moth
Pebble Prominent
Silver Y
Cydia pomonella
Fern

 
Agapeta hamana

Agapeta zoegana

Agapeta zoegana

Archips rosana

Crambus perlella

Delicate

Wildflower Meadow

160w MBT Trap

A lovely selection of moths

Mompha ochraceella

Myelois circumvoluta

Rannoch Looper

 

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