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

Sunday 22 October 2023

35 species in October is rather insane!

Wow, just wow.
Never have I ever had such a good catch in October here in my garden, and late October as well.
 
On Thursday night I logged a heady 35 species from my single actinic trap. I worked my trap up until midnight and then rose at 6.30am to go through the trap.
 
It certainly was a successful migrant night as well, finally coming good, with 9 Udea ferrugalis, 2 Plutella xylostella, 1 Silver Y, 1 Delicate and best of all, two cracking Vestals, one was a bit tatty but the other was a right showstopper.

A good variety of other less common moths were present also, Buttoned Snout made it's first appearance since May, Pine Carpet was rather late and not seen since August.
Four Dark Chestnut showed the variability in this species.

There was also two species of Caloptilia present, Caloptilia elongella was a welcome new for year moth, and a beauty of a purple-sheened chocolate coloured rufipennella was nice to photograph although it would not sit still for long!
Stenoptilia bipunctidactyla was the best moth of the night, a new species for the garden. I have retained the moth just incase it turns out to be zophodactylus.

Moth garden list for 2023 stands at 633 species

19/10/23 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Vestal 2 [NFY]
Angle Shades 1
Barred Sallow 1
Beaded Chestnut 3
Blair's Shoulder-knot 1
Brindled Green 1
Buttoned Snout 1
Chestnut 1
Clancy's Rustic 1
Dark Chestnut 3
Delicate 1
Double-striped Pug 1
Feathered Thorn 1
Green-brindled Crescent 3
Large Wainscot 3
Large Yellow Underwing 2
Lesser Yellow Underwing 1
L-album Wainscot 1
Merveille du Jour 1
Pine Carpet 1
Red-green Carpet 2
Satellite 1
Setaceous Hebrew Character 2
Silver Y 1

Micro Moths

Caloptilia elongella 1 [NFY]
Stenoptilia bipunctidactyla 1 [NFG]
Agonopterix alstromeriana 2
Blastobasis lacticolella 4
Caloptilia rufipennella 1
Cydalima perspectalis 3
Emmelina monodactyla 1
Epiphyas postvittana 5
Musotima nitidalis 1
Plutella xylostella 2
Udea ferrugalis 9

Beaded Chestnut

Buttoned Snout

Caloptilia elongella

Caloptilia rufipennella

Dark Chestnut

Dark Chestnut

Delicate

Endotricha flammealis

Green-brindled Crescent

Plutella xylostella

Stenoptilia bipunctidactyla

Udea ferrugalis

Vestal


Posted by Bennyboymothman at 13:48

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