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, 12 October 2025

Another couple of year listers

The weather is a bit dull lately and there is a chill in the air now early evening and first thing, with dewy conditions, kind of expected really.
For the time of year it is fairly mild, well.. Friday was fairly pleasant hitting 18 degrees, but the weekend has struggled under blankets of cloud. 

Friday night was a rather good catch, with lows of 13 degrees, cloud and little wind, 21 species was a very good return for mid October. 

My latest Pine Carpet was good to get, and there were two of them, they are also the first this year! Usually a July/August moth here in small numbers.

The second tick was not one, but 3 Phyllonorycter messaniella, a seemingly rare moth here for unknown reasons, and not seen for 4 years! 

Other species included several moth Mallows including a fresh one, and a couple of Acleris schalleriana.

Moth garden list for 2025 stands at 655 species

10/10/25 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap
 
Macro Moths 
 
Pine Carpet 2 [NFY] 
 
Micro Moths 
 
Phyllonorycter messaniella 3 [NFY] 
 
Phyllonorycter messaniella

Pine Carpet

 
Mallow

Acleris schalleriana

Posted by Bennyboymothman at 15:23