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, 26 April 2026

Micros start mounting up

With warmer days pushing 20 degrees now, but still rather cool nights (down to 2.8c last night) it is now worth running the trap more regularly, as it is taking longer for the temperature to drop.

Although rain is a pain, we desperately need some soon, as the ground is like concrete!

A couple of bonus moths were netted at dusk, although I missed a fair few, two were new species for the year.  

Overnight there was a good mix of macros and micros, the micros is where it really shone, with early records of one Tortrix and 2 Gelechids from the Scrobipalpa group.
 
The first of possibly many? Scrobipalpa ocellatella came to the actinic an hour or so after dusk, this was closely followed by a second, but it was certainly different under a hand lens, and it turned out to be Scrobipalpa atriplicella, a scarce moth here with just 2 previous records.
 
Seperated externally by the broader stubbier forewings and ocelli not being ringed with pale markings, instead they are edged in orange, and the general ground colour is must darker in atriplicella.
 
To be 100% and with worn specimens it is advised to have them dissected. 
 
Hopefully tonight might be more of the same? It certainly feels more humid this evening. 
 

Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 106 species

25/04/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap
 
Macro Moths 

Chocolate-tip 1 [NFY]
Least Black Arches 1 [NFY]
Pebble Prominent 2 [NFY]
Yellow-barred Brindle 1 [NFY]
Brindled Pug 1
Double-striped Pug 1
Garden Carpet 1
Iron Prominent 1
Muslin Moth 3
Nut-tree Tussock 1
Red-green Carpet 1
Shuttle-shaped Dart 3

Micro Moths 

Monopis crocicapitella 1 [NFY] (netted)
Neocochylis dubitana 1 [NFY]
Nemapogon granella 1 [NFY] (netted)
Scrobipalpa atriplicella 1 [NFY]
Scrobipalpa ocellatella 1 [NFY]
Epiphyas postvittana 4
 
  
Scrobipalpa ocellatella

Scrobipalpa atriplicella

Pebble Prominent

Least Black Arches

Chocolate-tip - Sadly deceased from a Spider

Yellow-barred Brindle



 
 
Posted by Bennyboymothman at 19:39