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, I have now removed commenting as the bots were starting to appear
Contact Email : bensale@rocketmail.com

My Latest Notables and Rarities

Monday, 23 June 2025

Cranwich Camp - Field Trip - Norfolk - 16th June

I was joined by Leslie Gardiner, fellow village moth enthusisast and extremely knowledgeable birder at Cranwich Camp in Norfolk last Monday night.

The day had been sweltering, with highs of 27 degrees and a low of around 15 degrees.

We did a bit of dusk netting and added a few species, some in good numbers (Clepsis consimilana, Bucculatrix frangutella & Anania hortulata) and then set about getting the lights in position and ready to go.
We setup 4 lights in close proximity, the furthest around 50 metres away from base camp, a low walking effort with the impending thought of work the next day, I didn't want to overdo it!
 
In the end we recorded just over 200 species over the 4 hours we ran the lights for. 
 
I think Leslie got around 10 new species for himself, Festoon for me was the highlight, a moth i've only seen once before in Essex previously.
 
Other standout species included an absolutely pristine Purple Clay, backed up by Beautiful Golden Y, Bordered Sallow, Rosy Marbled, Grey Arches, Red-necked Footman & Marbled Brown, all species that aren't on my garden list.
It was also nice to tap into a smidgen of migrant activity, with Silver Y, Plutella xylostella and 4 superb Four-spotted Footman, all males. 
 
Onto the micros and highlights included a scale perfect Agonopterix assimilella, the pretty Eupoecilia angustana and the scarcer of the Pandemis, Pandemis cinnamomeana (with it's characteristic white head, although only in the males).
 
A trip well worth doing and I will hope to return next month. 
 
16/06/25 - Cranwich Camp - Norfolk - 1x 125w Trap, 1x 250w Robinson Trap, 1x 40w/22w Bucket Trap & 1x 20w Bucket Trap

Macro Moths

Barred Straw 
Beautiful Golden Y
Beautiful Hook-tip 
Blood-vein 
Blue-bordered Carpet 
Bordered Sallow
Bordered White
Bright-line Brown-eye 
Brimstone Moth 
Brindled White-spot
Brown Rustic 
Brown Scallop
Brown Silver-line 
Buff Arches
Buff-tip 
Burnished Brass 
Cinnabar
Clay
Clay Triple-lines 
Clouded Border 
Common Carpet
Common Emerald
Common Footman 
Common Marbled Carpet 
Common Rustic 
Common Swift 
Common Wave 
Coronet
Coxcomb Prominent 
Dark Arches 
Double Square-spot 
Double-striped Pug 
Dwarf Cream Wave 
Elephant Hawk-moth 
Engrailed
Eyed Hawk-moth 
Fan-foot
Festoon 4 (3m, 1f)
Figure of Eighty 
Flame
Four-dotted Footman
Four-spotted Footman 4 
Fox Moth 
Goat Moth 
Grass Emerald 
Green Carpet 
Green Pug 
Green Silver-lines 
Grey Arches
Grey Pug
Grey-pine Carpet 
Heart & Club 
Heart & Dart 
Kent Black Arches 
Large Yellow Underwing 
Least Black Arches 
Leopard Moth 
Light Arches 
Light Emerald 
Lobster Moth 
Maple Prominent 
Marbled Brown 
Marbled Coronet 
Marbled Minor 
Miller
Mottled Beauty 
Mottled Rustic 
Nut-tree Tussock 
Oblique Striped
Orange Footman 
Pale Oak Beauty 
Pale Prominent 
Pale Tussock 
Peach Blossom 
Peppered Moth 
Phoenix 
Pine Hawk-moth 
Poplar Grey 
Privet Hawk-moth 
Purple Bar 
Purple Clay 
Reddish Light Arches 
Red-necked Footman 2
Riband Wave
Rosy Footman 
Rosy Marbled 
Sandy Carpet 
Satin Wave
Scarce Footman 
Scorched Wing 
Setaceous Hebrew Character 
Sharp-angled Carpet
Shears 
Shoulder-striped Wainscot 
Silver Y 
Silver-ground Carpet 
Single-dotted Wave 
Small Angle Shades 
Small Blood-vein
Small Elephant Hawk-moth 
Snout 
Spectacle 
Spruce Carpet 
Straw Dot 
Swallow-tailed Moth
Sycamore 
Tawny Shears 
Tawny-barred Angle 
Treble Brown Spot 
Turnip Moth 
Uncertain 


Micro Moths

Acompsia cinerella 
Aethes beatricella 
Agonopterix arenella
Agonopterix assimilella
Aleimma loeflingiana 
Anania hortulata
Anania lancealis 
Anania perlucidalis 
Anthophila fabriciana 
Apotomis capreana
Archips crataegana 
Ancylis achatana 
Archips podana 
Archips xylosteana 
Argyresthia pruniella 
Batrachedra confusella/pinicolella
Blastobasis lacticolella
Nymphula nitidulata
Bryotropha terrella 
Bucculatrix frangulatella 
Celypha cespitana
Celypha lacunana
Celypha rosaceana 
Chrysoteuchia culmella 
Clepsis consimilana 
Coleophora vestianella
Crambus lathoniellus 
Crambus pascuella 
Crassa unitella 
Cydia fagiglandana 
Delplanqueia dilutella/inscriptella
Ditula angustiorana 
Emmetia marginea 
Ephestia sp
Epiblema foenella 
Epinotia subocellana 
Ethmia dodecea 
Eucosma cana 
Eudonia lacustrata 
Eucosma campoliliana
Eupoecilia angustana
Exoteleia dodecella
Evergestis limbata 
Gypsonoma sociana 
Gypsonoma oppressana
Hedya nubiferana 
Hedya ochroleucana
Hedya salicella 
Homoeosoma sinuella 
Hofmannophila pseudospretella 
Lathyronympha strigana 
Lozotaeniodes formosana 
Musotima nitidalis 
Luquetia lobella 
Nemapogon cloacella 
Nemapogon koenigi 
Neocochylis dubitana 
Notocelia trimaculana 
Notocelia uddmanniana
Ostrinia nubilalis 
Pandemis cerasana
Pandemis heparana
Pandemis cinnamomeana
Paraswammerdamia albicapitella 
Parornix sp 
Phycita roborella 
Phyllonorycter stettinensis
Piniphila bifasciana 
Platytes cerrusella 
Plutella xylostella 
Pyrausta purpuralis
Pyrausta despicata
Parapoynx stratiotata
Rhyacionia buoliana
Scoparia ambigualis 
Sorhagenia sp 
Spilonota ocellana 
Stenoptilia pterodactyla
Strophedra nitidana
Strophedra weirana 
Teleiodes luculella 
Thisanotia chrysonuchella
Tinagma ocnerostomella 
Tinea semifulvella 
Tinea trinotella 
Tortrix viridana 
Udea olivalis 
Yponomeuta evonynella 
Yponomeuta cag/mal/pad 
Zeiraphera isertana

Thisanotia chrysonuchella

Actinic Trap

Agonopterix assimilella

Beautiful Golden Y

Bordered Salllow

Cranwich Camp

Eupoecilia angustana

Festoon - Female

Festoon - Male

Four-spotted footman

Grey Arches

Marbled Brown

Pandemis cinnamomeana

Purple Clay

Rosy Marbled

Strophedra nitidana