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

Monday, 15 June 2026

Kicking into gear, the Ermines are here

As the years have gone by, I've had huge influx’s of Ermine moths, the Yponomeuta variety. Usually a mixture of 5 possible species, a couple of them can be told apart, but the 3 that are inseparable are cagnagella, malinellus & padella.

Last night I got 3 of evonymella (Easily distinguished from the others by its multi-dotted forewings), and 1 of the triple headache cag/mal/pad as I put them down on my spreadsheet, the first of many no doubt.

There was a bit more activity and that was encouraging, especially as we head towards warmer days and nights.

Only two macro moths were new, Dwarf Cream Wave and Haworth's Pug.

The micros fared better with 8 new species for the year. 

Crambus pascuella was welcome after a year off in 2025 for reasons unknown, the odd little Carcina quercana (or Flat Cooper as it was affectionately known).

Netting at dusk yielded a year first Dichrorampha vancouverana, a real challenge to pot up from the net!

Get those traps ready!  

 
Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 392 species 
 
14/06/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap
 
Macro Moths

Dwarf Cream Wave 1 [NFY]
Haworth's Pug 1 [NFY]

Micro Moths
 
Carcina quercana 1 [NFY]
Crambus pascuella 1 [NFY]
Crassa unitella 1 [NFY] 
Dichrorampha vancouverana 1 [NFY]
Eucosma cana 2 [NFY]
Udea olivalis 1 [NFY]
Yponomeuta cag mal pad 1 [NFY]
Yponomeuta evonymella 3 [NFY] 
 
Yponomeuta evonymella

Carcina quercana

Crambus pascuella

Crassa unitella

Dichrorampha vancouverana

Dwarf Cream Wave

Haworth's Pug

Yponomeuta cag mal pad

 
Posted by Bennyboymothman at 21:15