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

Wednesday 25 September 2024

Best September Garden Catch Ever!

On Saturday night I was going to pop out for some mobile moth recording, but the threat of storms spreading up from the south was imminent, with pockets of torrential downpours on the cards from midnight, I safely wimped out.
So, not wanting to miss out on the very mild night, with lows of 17 degrees, I stayed up until half midnight, and rose at 5am.
I expected to be woken up by some rumbles and flashes, but nothing.... got up at 5, walked out to the trap and it was bone dry! Crazy, it must have skirted around us more westerly over Canbridge.

Even before I went to bed I was up to 40 species, adding a further 18 come the morning, a crazy good night for my garden.

Even better was the species cast! with 2 new species for the garden, 1 of which was a completely new moth for me, the titchy Cosmopterix pulchrimella.
Barred Red was the other newbie, a very uncommon moth on my spreadsheet over the last 18 years.

Whats more, 8 other species were added to the 2024 roster.

The full total was 122 moths of 58 species.

Moth garden list for 2024 stands at 603 species

21/09/24 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Autumnal Rustic 1 NFY
Barred Red 1 NFG
Blair's Shoulder-knot 1 NFY
Large Wainscot 1 NFY
Pine Carpet 1 NFY
Angle Shades 1
Black Rustic 3
Brimstone Moth 2
Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing 3
Common Wainscot 3
Delicate 1
Double-striped Pug 1
Dusky Thorn 1
Flounced Rustic 6
Garden Carpet 5
L-album Wainscot 1
Large Yellow Underwing 5
Lesser Yellow Underwing 2
Light Emerald 2
Lime-speck Pug 1
Lunar Underwing 2
Lunar Yellow Underwing 1
Marbled Beauty 1
Nutmeg 1
Pale Mottled Willow 1
Setaceous Hebrew Character 3
Silver Y 1
Small Dusty Wave 1
Snout 1
Spruce Carpet 1
Square-spot Rustic 1
Tree-lichen Beauty 1
Vine's Rustic 1
White-point 1
Willow Beauty 7

Micro Moths
 
Bucculatrix nigricomella 1 NFY
Coleophora hemerobiella 1 NFY
Cosmopterix pulchrimella 1 NFG
Udea ferrugalis 1 NFY
Ypsolopha sequella 1 NFY
Acleris variegana 2
Aproaerema anthyllidella 1
Blastobasis lacticolella 1
Caloptilia semifascia 2
Cameraria ohridella 10
Clepsis consimilana 2
Coleophora sp 1
Cydalima perspectalis 5
Epiphyas postvittana 4
Hypsopygia glaucinalis 1
Lyonetia clerkella 1
Monopis crocicapitella 1
Musotima nitidalis 1
Neocochylis molliculana 1
Nomophila noctuella 1
Plutella xylostella 2
Pyralis farinalis 1
Scrobipalpa ocellatella 12
 
Pyralis farinalis

Autumnal Rustic

Barred Red

Blair's Shoulder-knot

Bucculatrix nigricomella

Caloptilia semifascia

Coleophora hemerobiella

Cosmopterix pulchrimella

Large Wainscot

Nomophila noctuella

Pine Carpet

 

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