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

Tuesday, 23 June 2026

Heatwave incoming

The heat started to build once more over the weekend, with highs of around 28 degrees, and getting close to the heatwave threshold for the east (Which I believe is 29 degrees or above).

A great selection of moths were observed on Saturday night including two new for garden species.

The first was Dusky Brocade, a moth I take occasionally locally at the fen and probably expected eventually. A common moth many years ago but has seen a rapid decline in recent times.  

The other was a smaller moth in the Tortrix family, Aethes cnicana, a moth of wasteland and grassland, the larvae feeding from thistles, so should be common?

In total, around 60 species were seen, maybe more. Of that amount, 15 were new!

It's quite remarkable that we aren't even in July yet and I'm nearly at 500 species for the year. 675 is the yearly best which was set last year, could it be beaten? we'll see. 

Other lovely moths included a stunning Large Emerald, two of the similar Pug species (Currant & Wormwood, nice to see the comparison between the two).

A few migrants were seen, including a really poorly Rush Veneer which was the first seen this year, backed up by several Plutella xylostella, 1 Rusty-dot Pearl and 1 Small Mottled Willow.

Things are going from hot to ridiculously hot now, where we will see the June temperature record not just broken, but smashed.

 
Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 472 species 
 
20/06/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap
 
Macro Moths
 
Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing 1 [NFY]
Currant Pug 1 [NFY]
Dusky Brocade 1 [NFG]
Large Emerald 1 [NFY]
Marbled White Spot 1 [NFY]
Wormwood Pug 1 [NFY]


Micro Moths

Acleris variegana 1 [NFY]
Aethes cnicana 1 [NFG] 
Caloptilia cuculipennella 1 [NFY]
Caloptilia rufipennella 1 [NFY]
Metzneria lappella 2 [NFY]
Nomophila noctuella 1 [NFY] 
Phycitodes binaevella 1 [NFY]
Phyllonorycter comparella 1 [NFY]
Rhopobota naevana 1 [NFY]
Scoparia basistrigalis 1 [NFY] 
 
Dusky Brocade

Large Emerald

Phyllonorycter comparella

Wormwood Pug

Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing

Caloptilia cuculipennella

Caloptilia rufipennella

Caloptilia semifascia

 
 
 
Posted by Bennyboymothman at 20:49