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

Friday 3 May 2024

Just one night made up for a poor April

An excellent haul of late spring moths was to be had on Tuesday night here in my garden trap. 19 species in total wasn't to be sniffed at compared to how slow it has been recently.
 
It certainly made up for such a terrible April.
 
It was a mild night with a bit of wind (a constant feature for 2024 it seems) but cloud cover was thick and there was a passing shower whilst we were out on a field trip which did not impact the temperature.

When I got home at 12:30am I potted a few bits up, of interest were the first of the Cnephasia species (probably communana) and a seldom seen Cedestis subfasciella that posed nicely for a close-up.
 
Macros new for the year included a very lively Pale Prominent that took forever to settle for its photo, a Pebble Hook-tip and 2 further Noctuid moths made it a fab 7 new ones for the night.
 
The weather continues to be rather warm by day, the nights aren't too bad either but we just cannot get rid of this breeze that is really hampering any sort of numbers of moths.
 
Moth garden list for 2024 stands at 101 species
 
30/04/24 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths
 
Flame Shoulder 2 [NFY]
Pale Prominent 1 [NFY]
Pebble Hook-tip 1 [NFY]
Brimstone Moth 2
Chinese Character 1
Double-striped Pug 1
Garden Carpet 2
Hebrew Character 1
Muslin Moth 4
Nut-tree Tussock 1
Oak-tree Pug 1
Shuttle-shaped Dart 1
Waved Umber 1
Yellow-barred Brindle 4
 
Micro Moths 
 
Cedestis subfasciella 1 [NFY]
Cnephasia sp 1 [NFY]
Tinea trinotella 1 [NFY]
Cameraria ohridella 2
Epiphyas postvittana 4 

Cedestis subfasciella

Cnephasia sp

Flame Shoulder

Pale Mottled Willow

Pale Prominent

Pebble Hook-tip

Tinea trinotella


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