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, 31 May 2026

Several new garden moths!

Well what a May it has been.

Tuesday night in my garden was incredibly busy, and I took advantage of the warm night to stay up potting moths until nigh on midnight, then up early at 3.30 to go through the rest of the catch.

The moths were really lively with the heat, and it was quite an issue potting everything up.

18 new species were potted up and I listed over 70 species. 

Below are the highlights of the night.

Sloe Pug - Only my 2nd garden record, I've now seen another couple on two different field trips this week, so must be having a good year locally.

Small Mottled Willow - Finally tapped into a bit of the migrant action, albeit a smidgen. 2nd garden record of this sometimes long-distance migrant. 

Cydia conicolana - New for garden, this is the 3rd pine feeding Cydia that I have recorded here (Other two are single records of Cydia cosmophoran & Cydia strobilella). A really pretty species up close with it's silver glinting bars. 

Monopis fenestratella - 3rd County record and the 2nd one from my garden, after the first last year. A really distinct tiny Monopis with its windowed wing. I've subsequently had another this week at nearby Chippenham Fen, and in much better condition than this one.

Nemophora degeerella - A common moth during the daytime along woodland rides, I rarely come across them here in Cambs, so it was a complete shock to find one on the vanes of the actinic trap, new for garden! 

A white Coleophora was retained for examination. 

There's certainly more to come...

 

Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 301 species 
 
26/05/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap
 
Macro Moths

Cream-spot Tiger 1 [NFY]
Freyer's Pug 2 [NFY]
Grey Pug 1 [NFY]
Riband Wave 1 [NFY]
Sloe Pug 1 [NFY]
Small Elephant Hawk-moth 1 [NFY]
Small Mottled Willow 1 [NFY]
Tawny Wave 1 [NFY]

Micro Moths
 
Achroia grisella 1 [NFY]
Archips podana 1 [NFY] 
Bactra furfurana 1 [NFY]
Bryotropha terrella 1 [NFY] 
Cydia conicolana 1 [NFG] 
Ditula angustiorana 1 [NFY]
Eudonia lacustrata 1 [NFY] 
Monopis fenestratella 1 [NFY]
Nemophora degeerella 1 [NFG] 
Nephopterix angustella 1 [NFY] 
Small Mottled Willow

Archips podana

Cream-spot Tiger

Cydia conicolana

Eudonia lacustrata

Monopis fenestratella

Nephopterix angustella

Sloe Pug

Small Elephant Hawk-moth


Posted by Bennyboymothman at 21:06