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, 4 March 2026

Trapping & netting

It's nearly that time again, where the net gets a bit of action once more, if conditions allow and I made a brave effort on Monday evening after dinner whilst my son played in the garden and was potting as many Ladybirds as he could find!
One micro found the back of the net, a new species for the year, an Epermenia chaerophyllella fresh out of hibernation.
I did see one other moth but a gust of wind blew it away from my garden.
 
It's still not quite warm enough for dusking just yet, but you've got to try.
 
Overnight the trap did very well despite lows of 5 degrees, I think it had something to do with the 17 degrees recorded during the day!
 
Two new species were added, a couple of nice Twin-spotted Quaker's the biggest of the Orthosia genus (Although recently changed to Anorthoa), and a Pale Pinion, an annual but scarce moth here.
 
30 moths was a nice return indeed. 

Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 33 species

02/03/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap
 
Macro Moths 
  
Pale Pinion 1 [NFY] 
Twin-spotted Quaker 2 [NFY]
Clouded Drab 3
Common Quaker 4
Early Moth 1 
Hebrew Character 3
March Moth 3
Oak Beauty 3
Small Quaker 2 

Micro Moths 
 
Epermenia chaerophyllella 1 [NFY] (netted)
Agonopterix heracliana 3
Diurnea fagella 3 
Emmelina monodactyla 2
 
Twin-spotted Quaker

Twin-spotted Quaker

Diurnea fagella

Diurnea fagella

Epermenia chaerophyllella

Pale Pinion

 
Posted by Bennyboymothman at 20:21