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 14 September 2023

Latest from my garden moth trap

I ran my trap during last weekends warm weather, where we had the hottest day of the year recorded in Cambridge at 32.8c on the Saturday.
The nights were also fairly warm albeit with some clear skies.

I was also very pleased, that on the Sunday night I managed a decent and migrant moth for my garden, a brilliant Delicate.
There have been a fair few reports of them in East Anglia the past few weeks, so I was always hopeful.

Autumn is most certainly upon us now, with species like Autumnal Rustic, Frosted Orange & Black Rustic all noted as new for the year. I even got a Lunar Underwing last night, a proper Autumn species!

Lets see what turns up this weekend as we once again have a short sharp mild blast of air, though thankfully not as hot as last time.
 

Moth garden list for 2023 stands at 605 species

08/09/23 - Autumnal Rustic - A really nice looking species, i'm lucky I get these annually but by no means common.

08/09/23 - Depressaria badiella - An uncommon Depressidae in my garden, nice to record one the second year running. The black V begind the head couple with the 'squared-off' wingtips are diagnostic for this species.

08/09/23 - Endothenia ustulana - I've taken this species at nearby Chippenham Fen just last year. So it was great to add it to the garden list. I've retained the moth to be certain it is this species, but it's extremely dark and cryptic in colopuration i'm fairly certain it is.
 
08/09/23 - Euspilapteryx auroguttella - Another new species for my garden, a tiny little colourful moth, with orange blotches and a steel grey base coat, it's a rather unusual combination and a nice distinctive moth to grab an instant identification.

09/09/23 - Acleris rhombana - My annual one specimen of this species turned up last Saturday night, told apart from shepherdana by it's hooked wing-tips (shepherdana i've yet to see in my garden, but i've recorded it locally at Wicken Fen). 

10/09/23 - Black Rustic - Cracking moths are Black Rustics, like the darth vader of lepidoptera. They are never common here, so I was delighted to find this fresh example.

10/09/23 - Delicate - I initially thought this was new for the garden, then I went to edit my spreadsheets and realised I took one in July! oops. Still good to get another though.

10/09/23 - Frosted Orange - Lives up to it's apt name, a colourful and fairly large species, again never common. 

Autumnal Rustic

Depressaria badiella

Elachista freyerella

Endothenia ustulana

Euspilapteryx auroguttella

Ostrinia nubilalis

Acleris rhombana

Black Rustic

Delicate

Frosted Orange

 

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