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

Wednesday, 25 February 2026

First signs of Spring

On the same day as the local Sallow trees bursting into life, with their bushy catkins glowing bright yellow in the morning twilight, the trap was busy with moths once more.

It had been quite wet leading up to the start of the week, and a few of the moths were a bit worse for wear.

I've also had issues with my patio being extremely damp and thus moths sticking to it upside down, so i've had to lay sheets and towels out! Nightmare.

Monday night started brilliantly, with 6 new species added to the year list. 

Red Chestnut was a good recortd, sadly worn but it represents my earliest ever in nineteen years by 14 days.
A 2nd garden record of Small Brindled Beauty was also a nice surprise alongside a couple of Oak Beauties which in contrast, are much more regular here.
 
The first Small Quaker of the year was spider food, rescued from a web on our fence. By the morning it was dead sadly. 
I ended up with 20 moths of 12 species. 
 
I always find photography challenging this time of year, with poor light.
 
The temperature remains mild during the days (14-17c) and couple spur on a few more species to come on the wing.

Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 20 species

 
23/02/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap
 
Macro Moths 
  
Oak Beauty 2 [NFY] 
Oak Nycteoline 1 [NFY]
Red Chestnut 1 [NFY] 
Small Brindled Beauty 1 [NFY] 
Small Quaker 1 [NFY] 
Common Quaker 4
Grey Shoulder-knot (2nd example for the year) 
Hebrew Character 5
March Moth 1
Pale Brindled Beauty 1

Micro Moths 
 
Diurnea fagella 1 [NFY]
Agonopterix alstromeriana 1  
 
Small Quaker

Diurnea fagella

Oak Beauty

Small Brindled Beauty

 
Posted by Bennyboymothman at 20:16