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

Saturday 18 May 2024

Another super catch of moths

Sunday night was a fab night here in my garden for moths, yes... nearly a week behind oops.

I logged 51 species from netting on the patio at dusk, and working the trap up until midnight.
Getting up quite early at around 4am is paying off massively, as there are still plenty of moths around the tubes which haven't alighted to the early morning sunrise.
 
Some real corking specimens including the first of the tricky set of Dichrorampha's turning up (2x Dichrorampha plumbagana which are easily discernible from others in the group due to the scribbled pattern on the wings).
 
From the trap through the evening, Flame Carpet was a good record for here, and two more regular and nicely marked species, Poplar Grey and Sycamore.
 
Best moth of the night was an Elachista atricomella, not a common moth here.

Elachista maculicerusella was new for the garden and moth no.807.
 
An Endothenia sp will be retained for dissection, either gentianaeana/marginana.
 
Moth garden list for 2024 stands at 184 species
 
12/05/24 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Flame Carpet 1 NFY
Marbled Minor 3 NFY
Poplar Grey 1 NFY
Sycamore 1 [NFY]
Tawny Marbled Minor 1 [NFY]
Vine's Rustic 2 [NFY]
Angle Shades 1
Bright-line Brown-eye 1
Brimstone Moth 1
Buff-tip 2
Buttoned Snout 1
Chinese Character 3
Common Carpet 1
Common Pug 6
Double-striped Pug 1
Garden Carpet 4
Green Carpet 1
Light Brocade 1
Nutmeg 1
Oak-tree Pug 1
Orange Footman 1
Pale Tussock 2
Ruby Tiger 1
Rustic Shoulder-knot 1
Shuttle-shaped Dart 12
Small Dusty Wave 3 (netted)
Spectacle 1
Mottled Pug 1
Muslin Moth 1
Treble Lines 6
Turnip Moth 3
Waved Umber 1
Willow Beauty 10
Yellow-barred Brindle 3

Micro Moths

Dichrorampha plumbagana 2 [NFY] (netted)
Elachista atricomella 1 [NFY]
Elachista maculicerusella 1 [NFG]
Notocelia cynosbatella 1 [NFY]
Pyrausta aurata 1 [NFY] (daytime)
Agonopterix purpurea 2 (netted)
Argyresthia trifasciata 1
Aspilapteryx tringipennella 1
Bryotropha basaltinella 30+ (Mostly netted)
Epiphyas postvittana 10
Cameraria ohridella 1
Dichrorampha acuminatana 2
Eudonia angustea 1
Pyrausta aurata 1 NFY (daytime)
Mompha subbistrigella 1 (netted)
Monopis crocicapitella 1
Monopis laevigella 1


Vine's Rustic

Tawny Marbled Minor

Sycamore

Poplar Grey

Marbled Minor

Flame Carpet

Endothenia gentianaeana/marginana

Elachista maculicerusella

Elachista atricomella

Dichrorampha plumbagana

Posted by Bennyboymothman at 20:27

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)