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, 28 June 2025

Hot summer nights!

What a start to summer, it's been warm, dry (too dry really) and the weather remained settled for week upon week.
Daytime temperatures ranged between 24 and 30 degrees with overnight lows of between 12 and 16 with most nights still holiding at 20 degrees at midnight, utterly crazy.
 
Last Thursday was a warm day in the high 20's and lows of 16 by 4.30am, and with light winds the trtap was busy again, a common exhausting theme hence how far behind I am with my reports. 
 
There were over 70 species present, including some exciting finds.
 
The best was a tiny brown jobbie, a jittery Tinea species that wouldn't sit still. Finally cooled down in the fridge for a few hours I was able to get it under a hand lens and notice that it wasn't all the same colour, with pale patches dorsally and ventrally, and a distinctive opaque window marking, Monopis fenestratella it was to (fenestra meaning window in Latin).
A new moth for me, and even more exciting was that it hadn't been seen in the county since 1877, which was the 1st British record! Since there have been less than 12 records nationwide.  
 
Other super species included garden firsts of Acleris hastiana, Brown Silver-line & Slender Pug.
 
The rare Gelechia scotinella was also a great spot before bedtime, and in the LUN pheromone trap intended for the Lunar Hornet Moth (No luck yet) was a dead Tineola bisselliella, new for the year.

Moth garden list for 2025 stands at 438 species

19/06/25 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths
 

Blackneck 1 [NFY]
Brown Silver-line 1 [NFG]
Double Square-spot 1 [NFY]
Dwarf Cream Wave 1 [NFY]
Least Carpet 1 [NFY]
Slender Pug 1 [NFG]
Small Ranunculus 1 [NFY]

Micro Moths
 
Acleris forsskaleana 1 [NFY]
Acleris hastiana 1 [NFG]
Endotricha flammealis 1 [NFY]
Eucosma hohenwartiana 1 [NFY]
Eudemis profundana 1 [NFY]
Gelechia scotinella 1 [NFY]
Gypsonoma aceriana 1 [NFY]
Marasmarcha lunaedactyla 2 [NFY]
Monopis fenestratella 1 [NEW!]
Pexicopia malvella 1 [NFY]
Tineola bisselliella 1 [NFY] (To LUN lure)

Slender Pug

Acleris forsskaleana

Acleris hastiana

Blackneck

Brown Silver-line

Double Square-spot

Dwarf Cream Wave

Endotricha flammealis

Eucosma hohenwartiana

Eudemis profundana

Gelechia scotinella

Gypsonoma aceriana

Monopis fenestratella

Pexicopia malvella

 

 

Posted by Bennyboymothman at 20:23

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)