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, 3 May 2026

Another super night for moths

A little cooler last night here in my garden, with lows of 12 degrees and a drop to 15 by midnight, by no means shabby at all. 
 
This resulted in a slightly smaller catch of 36 species, but by jove, the variety keeps on coming, with a super 18 new species for the year.
No big numbers of anything, all 1s and 2s which is standard for here.
 
Some beautiful moths were potted up and photographed this morning, they included Cinnabar,  Common Carpet, Peppered Moth, Puss Moth & Yellow Belle, the last one a brand new moth for my garden.
 
Yellow Belle I have taken locally over the grasslands in the village, so I was hoping one would turn up one day. It is the 923rd species to be recorded here.
 
Small is also beautiful, and the micros included one of my late spring favourites, the lumpy bumpy excessive protrusions of a moth that is Phtheochroa rugosana, such a cool looking moth.
 
A tiny Bucculatrix has been retained for examination, as it looks remarkably like demaryella. 
 
The forecast for tonight is full cloud cover and light rain. I'm currently looking out to a completely clear sky and no breeze, BBC wrong again? as they were last night. 
 
Things go up and down now going forward, i'll give it a go on the warmer nights.
 
Only new species for the year listed. 

Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 159 species

02/05/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap
 
Macro Moths

Cinnabar 1 [NFY]
Common Carpet 1 [NFY]
Common Wainscot 1 [NFY] 
Lychnis 1 [NFY]
Marbled Clover 1 [NFY]
Peppered Moth 1 [NFY] 
Puss Moth 1 [NFY] 
Tawny Marbled Minor 1 [NFY]
Treble Lines 1 [NFY]
Yellow Belle 1 [NFY] 

Micro Moths

Argyresthia trifasciata 1 [NFY]
Celypha lacunana 1 [NFY] 
Cochylis atricapitana 1 [NFY] 
Coptotriche marginea 1 [NFY]
Epiblema scutulana 1 [NFY] 
Phtheochroa rugosana 1 [NFY] 
Pyrausta aurata 1 [NFY] (Daytime) 
Bucculatrix demaryella pos 1 (TBC) 
 
Yellow Belle

Bucculatrix demaryella?

Cinnabar

Common Carpet

Common Wainscot

Epiblema scutulana

Lychnis

Marbled Clover

Phtheochroa rugosana

Treble Lines

 

Posted by Bennyboymothman at 20:05