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

Saturday, 19 July 2025

An absolute corker!

Warm, humid and less wind, and with a mostly cloudy night, all of the ingredients were there for a good night, and indeed it was! With close to 80 species noted, and good numbers of certain species.

The Yponomeuta were the most numerous, easily 200 of them in and around the trap, there were also lots of Cloaked Minors (22) Common Rustic (17) and Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing (12).

Lets get into the new species, and boy it was all rather exciting.

There were 9 new species for the year, 3 were completely new for the garden list.

They were...

Brown-veined Wainscot, an expected moth eventually, being surrounded by wetland. I had it's sibling, the Twin-spotted Wainscot only once before in 2022.

Aristotelia ericinella, a wanderer from the nearby Heather-laden Brecks. In fact I looked back at my moth records, and took one in my old garden in a town! So they must travel about a bit on the hot and humid air. This is appears to be only the 3rd record for Cambridgeshire.

Isophrictis striatella, an unexpected species here. The caterpillars feed on the stems of Tansy & Sneezewort, neither of which I have seen locally. There are currently 7 county records, all at one site on the south Cambs/north Herts at RSPB Fowlmere, so a very good record indeed, and only my 2nd record of this species having taken my first one in Bedfordshire in 2021.

A darker Common Rustic was dissected to confirm a Lesser Common Rustic, not as dark as some i've seen before. 

Moth garden list for 2025 stands at 563 species

13/07/25 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Brown-veined Wainscot 1 [NFG]
Lesser Common Rustic 1 [NFY]
Small Scallop 1 [NFY]
White-spotted Pinion 1 [NFY]

Micro Moths

Aristotelia ericinella 1 [NFG]
Cataclysta lemnata 1 [NFY]
Clavigesta purdeyi 1 [NFY]
Cochylidia implicitana 1 [NFY]
Isophrictis striatella 1 [NFG]

White-spotted Pinion

Aristotelia ericinella

Brown-veined Wainscot

Clavigesta purdeyi

Cochylidia implicitana

Dark Sword-grass

Isophrictis striatella

Lesser Common Rustic

Oak Nycteoline

Small Scallop

 

Posted by Bennyboymothman at 21:20