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

Thursday, 25 June 2026

wAARRm

Extremely warm these past few days, with humidity through the roof even during the day, which is unusual for so early on in the summer.
 
Monday night was the start of the proper heatwave here, with highs just touching the 30's, but it was the night time temperatures that were the most surprising.
With clear skies, generally the nights go a little cool, but this isn't the case currently as there is such a warm air mass pulsing up from southern Europe, that it is only dropping to around 20 degrees which is rather insane for this country, a tropical night they call it here.
 
Rising at 3am the temperature was still 20.6c, probably warmest night of the year so far (but that could be broken this week yet).
 
The moths, bugs, beetles and flies were everywhere! It was actually quite hard to get near the trap, especially with the May bugs crashing around everywhere, the odd Cockchafer still hanging on here, though being rapidly replaced with 10's of Summer Chafers.
 
Moths were quickly potted up and popped in the fridge to cool down and photograph later that day.
 
I didn't do a full count due to time constraints, but from what I saw there were at least 70 species in and around the trap.
 
Best moths included Anarsia spartiella & Myelois circumvoluta (Both 2nd garden records) 
 
And also some quality macro moths such as several Brown-line Bright-eye and the uncommon Double Lobed. 
 
Once again, just the new ones were listed. 
 
 
Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 483 species 
 
22/06/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap
 
Macro Moths
 
Brown-line Bright-eye 4 [NFY]
Double Lobed 1 [NFY]

Micro Moths

Acrobasis suavella 1 [NFY]
Anarsia spartiella 1 [NFY]
Eucosma metzneriana 1 [NFY]
Eucosma obumbratana 1 [NFY]
Eudemis profundana 1 [NFY]
Galleria mellonella 1 [NFY]
Lobesia abscisana 1 [NFY]
Myelois circumvoluta 1 [NFY]
Patania ruralis 1 [NFY]
 
Anarsia spartiella

Brown-line Bright-eye

Double Lobed

Eucosma metzneriana

Eucosma obumbratana

Eudemis profundana

Galleria mellonella

Heart & Club

Lobesia abscisana

 
Posted by Bennyboymothman at 13:45