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

Sunday, 17 August 2025

Back to the garden, back to back

Back from our lovely break away to Bournemouth in a private house with large grounds, pool and free fishing rights, totally spoilt!
Unfortunately the mothing was rather poor (windy cool and clear nights with a disastrous moon phase) Still there were some goodies found, more on that soon.
 
I ran my trap back to back on Thursday and Friday night, Thursday we returned from the south an hour into darkness, and as soon as I switched on, there were moths around my feet!
It was a very busy night, with 73 species, I then added a further 35 different species the night after on the 15th.  

Less new species for the yearly list now, but some absolute crackers turning up. 

Large Thorn was good to see, only my 3rd for the garden and my earliest record by 15 days!

A 4th Ancylosis oblitella of the year was noteworthy, what a year it's been for them! A seemingly rare moth turned common overnight.  

2 more Homoeosoma nebulella were most welcome, a species that does well here annually for reasons unknown.

A Copper Underwing was checked underneath and confimed my suspicions that it was indeed a year first Svennson's Copper Underwing, a nice dark marked specimen.

And two new Pugs for the year, Cypress and Tawny-speckled, the latter a bit worn (But since eclipsed by a fresh specimen last night).

Lots of migrants floating around still, but very little here so far. 

Moth garden list for 2025 stands at 605 species

14-15/08/25 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths 

Cypress Pug 1 [NFY]
Large Thorn 1 [NFY]
Svennson's Copper Underwing 1 [NFY]
Tawny-speckled Pug 1 [NFY]
Bright-line Brown-eye 
Brimstone Moth
Buff-tip 
Cabbage Moth 
Chinese Character 
Cloaked Minor 
Common Carpet 
Common Rustic 
Common Wainscot 58
Copper Underwing 
Dingy Footman 
Double-striped Pug 
Dusky Thorn 
Flame Shoulder 
Flounced Rustic 
Goat Moth 
Grey Dagger 
Gypsy Moth 
Heart & Dart 
Iron Prominent 
Jersey Tiger 
Large Yellow Underwing 
Latticed Heath 
Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing 
Light Emerald 
Lime-speck Pug 
Lychnis 
Marbled Beauty 
Marbled Clover 
Nutmeg 41
Pale Mottled Willow 
Pale Prominent
Riband Wave 
Ruby Tiger 
Setaceous Hebrew Character 
Shuttle-shaped Dart 19
Single-dotted Wave 
Small Dusty Wave 
Spectacle 
Straw Dot 
Straw Underwing 
Swallow Prominent 
Tawny Wave
Toadflax Brocade 
Tree-lichen Beauty 
Treble-bar 
Turnip Moth 
Vine's Rustic 
White-spotted Pug 
White-point 
White-line Dart 
Willow Beauty 
Wormwood Pug
Yellow Shell


Micro Moths

Acentria emphemerella 
Agapeta hamana
Agriphila geniculea 
Agriphila straminella 
Agriphila tristella 
Ancylosis oblitella 
Blastobasis adustella 
Bryotropha basaltinella 
Bryotropha domestica 
Cameraria ohridella 
Carcina quercana 
Chrysoteuchia culmella 
Cochylichroa atricapitana 
Cochylis rosaceana 
Coleophora alcyonipennella frischella 
Cydia fagiglandana 
Cydia pomonella 
Cydalima perspectalis 
Dichrorampha petiverella
Dichrorampha simpliciana 
Dichrorampha vancouverana 
Ephestia sp 
Endotricha flammealis 
Epiphyas postvittana 
Ethmia quadrilella 
Eudonia mercurella 
Eudonia pallida 
Euzophera pinguis 
Evergestis limbata 
Galleria mellonella
Gelechia senticetella 
Hofmannophila pseudospretella 
Homoeosoma nebulella 
Homoeosoma sinuella 
Monopis crocicapitella 
Monopis weaverella 
Neocochylis dubitana 
Neocochylis hybridella 
Neocochylis molliculana 
Ostrinia nubilalis 
Parapoynx stratiotata 
Patania ruralis 
Platyedra subcinerea 
Pyrausta aurata 
Pyrausta despicata 
Scrobipalpa ocellatella 
Scythris limbella 
Swammerdamia pyrella 
Udea ferrugalis 
Yponomeuta cag/mal/pad

White-line Dart

Ancylosis oblitella

Cypress Pug

Homoeosoma nebulella

Large Thorn

Parapoynx stratiotata

Svennson's Copper Underwing

Tawny-speckled Pug