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 26 May 2024

A better night but a real mixed one

The night started clear and breezy, but at some point I knew it would cloud over and rain was expected.
I'm not sure when this happened, because at nigh on midnight, it was still a clear sky, and very little was flying to the trap.
The temperature stayed just into double figures at 10.8c, not spectacular to say the least.
 
By morning and at 5am I was sifting and sorting through the trap and looking around all of the fence panels and house wall, it had already rained at some point and as I was finishing up, the heavens opened again.
I jotted down a fair list considering there was barely anything for 3hrs after dark.
 
3 macro moths were new for the year and later on this morning, a micro moth was spotted by my son on the wall (One that I had missed) whoch turned out to be a welcome year first Eudonia lacustrata.
 
Best moth of the night was a nice fresh Brown Rustic, not a common moth here, and my latest Tawny Pinion (of the Autumn brood) was noteworthy.

Moth garden list for 2024 stands at 231 species
 
25/05/24 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Brown Rustic 1 [NFY]
Common Marbled Carpet 1 [NFY]
Pale Oak Beauty 1 [NFY]
Cabbage Moth 1
Common Swift 6
Dark Spectacle 1
Flame Shoulder 1
Foxglove Pug 1
Garden Carpet 1
Green Pug 2
Heart & Dart 2
Large Nutmeg 2
Light Brocade 3
Marbled Minor 2
Pale Tussock 1
Peppered Moth 1
Setaceous Hebrew Character 1
Shuttle-shaped Dart 1
Small Square-spot 1
Tawny Pinion 1
Treble Lines 3
Turnip 2
Willow Beauty 3


Micro Moths

Eudonia lacustrata 1 [NFY]
Argyresthia cupressella 1
Epiphyas postvittana 1
Eudonia angustea 1
Grapholita funebrana 1
Plutella xylostella 1
Phyllonorycter leucographella 1

Brown Rustic

Common Marbled Carpet

Eudonia lacustrata

Pale Oak Beauty

Tawny Pinion

 

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