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

Friday, 29 May 2026

Marvellous May

Well what an end to May it has been, with sky high temperatures pushing the mid 30's at one point, and some tropical nights around 20 degrees at the minimum!
Moths went crazy, then slowed down a little when it was too hot, then a slightly cooler night produced an overload to a point where I ran out of pots and gave up counting.
 
Usually mid-June onwards I tend to just to count the new species and avoid a full count due to work/family commitments.
This year however, with this heatwave, we are running two weeks ahead of schedule.
 
Monday night was no different, with at least 60 species seen.
 
Notable moths included the stunning Scarlet Tiger and only the second garden record of  Tachystola acroxantha, a very common moth for some people from what I’ve heard.
 
During the day the AND lure attracted 5 Orange-tailed Clearwing, unfortunately a few were deceased in the heat so I’ve since moved the bucket trap out of the hot afternoon sunshine, lesson learned!
 
This heat has been bloody challenging with photographing the catch, some moths literally just scarper as soon as you tip them from a pot, even after a little dose of c02!
 
The nights got even more sultry as the week progressed. 
 
 
Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 283 species 
 
25/05/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap
 
Macro Moths

Buff Ermine 1 [NFY]
Common Marbled Carpet 1 [NFY]
Cypress Carpet 1 [NFY]
Lunar Yellow Underwing 1 [NFY]
Mottled Rustic 1 [NFY]
Orange-tailed Clearwing 5 [NFY] (To AND lure)
Scarlet Tiger 1 [NFY]
Small Blood-vein 1 [NFY]
Treble Brown Spot 1 [NFY]


Micro Moths
 
Blastodacna hellerella 3 [NFY]
Carpatolechia fugitivella 1 [NFY]
Ephestia sp 2 [NFY]
Gelechid sp 1 (TBC)
Grapholita janthinana 1 [NFY]
Metalampra italica 1 [NFY] 
Scoparia ambigualis 1 [NFY]
Tachystola acroxantha 1 [NFY]
 
Blastodacna hellerella

Carpatolechia fugitivella

Cypress Carpet

Lunar Yellow Underwing

Scarlet Tiger

Small Blood-vein

 
Posted by Bennyboymothman at 23:15