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, 7 June 2026

More species continue to arrive

Last Sunday night I recorded 52 species of moths which was still very good for late May here.

It was nice to end May with a huge healthy list of species for the year, and we've still got peak mothing to come in June and July! 

10 new species overnight was very good, as night time temperatures started to get lower towards the start of the new week.
 
In the daytime a single Red-belted Clearwing came to its own lure. Clearwings have been quite sparse in my garden this year, apart from Currant where I've had up to 12 per day. 
 
Best moth for me was a 2nd garden record of  Hellinsia carphodactyla, a rather nice Plume.
 
Pandemis heparana was odd in the fact that I recorded it before cerasana, this isn't usually the case.
 
Although the weather changed as soon as we stepped into June, there were some fairly mild nights on the cards albeit a little wet. 
 
 
Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 347 species 
 
30/05/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap
 
Macro Moths

Beautiful Hook-tip 1 [NFY] 
Common Footman 1 [NFY]
Dark Arches 1 [NFY]
Least Carpet 1 [NFY]
Red-belted Clearwing 1 [NFY] (To lure)
Small Waved Umber 1 [NFY]

Micro Moths
 
Acentria ephemerella 1 [NFY]
Aglossa pinguinalis 1 [NFY]
Hellinsia carphodactyla 1 [NFY]
Pandemis heparana 1 [NFY]
Tinea semifulvella 1 [NFY] 
 
Small Waved Umber

Aglossa pinguinalis

Beautiful Hook-tip

Common Footman

Dark Arches

Hellinsia carphodactyla

Least Carpet

Pandemis heparana

Red-belted Clearwing

 
Posted by Bennyboymothman at 19:51