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

Picking up

With a few nights off because of bitter night-time temperatures, it was time to set the trap up once more on Friday night.
Although the warm days are absolutely beautiful, the nights are still rather frigid and I wasn't expecting much.
 
8 species was rather low, but there were two newbies amongst them, and it was worthwhile netting at dusk for a couple of additions.
 
By midnight I switched off as it was down to 4c and by the morning only 1 degree! 
 
This was the first catch of the year without any spring Orthosia species present.  
 
To the lures I managed a garden 2nd Pammene argyrana to it's lure, a slightly grotty looking specimen but pleasing all the same.
I also atrracted the first for the year Carnation Tortrix to the bag of lures. The carrier bag must be impregnated with the scent as it hasn't failed to attract one over the last 4 years! 
 
An odd pale Phyllonorycter species that was netted has been retained. 
 
A Stigmella was keyed out as either crataegella or hybnerella, either would be new for the garden so will go down as an aggregate.

Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 97 species

24/04/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap
 
Macro Moths 

Garden Carpet 2 [NFY]
Toadflax Brocade 1 [NFY]
Brindled Beauty 1
Nut-tree Tussock 1
Shuttle-shaped Dart 3
Waved Umber

Micro Moths 

Cacoecimorpha pronubana 1 [NFY] 
Pammene argyrana 1 [NFY] (To arg lure) 
Stigmella crataegella/hybnerella 1 [NFG] (Netted)
Elachista rufocinerea 1 (Netted) 
Epiphyas postvittana 1
Phyllonorycter sp 1 (Netted) 
Platyedra subcinerea 1 
 
Toadflax Brocade

Cacoecimorpha pronubana

Garden Carpet

Pammene argyrana

Phyllonorycter sp

Stigmella crataegella/hybnerella

 
Posted by Bennyboymothman at 15:33