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 4 February 2024

Home and away

Warm days at 14 degrees and mild nights above 11c have spurred me on to try and catch some moths once more, but it's still not happening here locally.
Last night the garden yielded just 4 moths of 2 species, despite being mild all night, although the breeze did kick up around midnight, so that may have hampered things.
I seem to be stuck on 6 species for the year, on this exact date last year I was on 10 species, so not a massive difference.
 
I dropped a couple of traps off at my local nature reserve just before dusk, and went back at 8pm to see what I had caught.
Very little unfortunately, to the 125w MV trap were just 6 moths, the Actinic trap faired better with 13 moths.
Luckily all was worth it for two cracking micro moths. Nice examples of both Acleris ferrugana/notana & Caloptilia elongella.

Next mild and settled spell, I shall try again.

Moth garden list for 2024 stands at 6 species
 
03/02/24 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Pale Brindled Beauty 3

Micro Moths
 
Agonopterix heracliana 1 
 
 
03/02/24 - Chippenham Fen - East Cambridgeshire - 1x 125w Trap & 1x 62w Actinic Bucket Trap

Macro Moths
 
Chestnut 1
Pale Brindled Beauty 14
Spring Usher 1
 
Micro Moths
 
Acleris ferrugana/notana
Agonopterix heracliana 1  
Caloptilia elongella 1 

One of the better marked Pale Brindled Beauties from last night

Pale Brindled Beauty dominated the away catch

A rather dotty Acleris ferrugana/notana (Like a mini Dotted Chestnut)

The sleek looking Caloptilia elongella, an Alder feeder

 

Posted by Bennyboymothman at 15:51

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