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, 6 July 2026

Two additions to the garden list

Running a week behind currently as It's been a busy week last week, never really getting round to posting about moths!

Last Monday the trap was again pretty busy, and many species were observed including several quite scarce species.

Common species at the moment are numbering ridiculous.

Top 5 species currently are..

Least Carpet - 100+ most night 
Endotricha flammealis - 50+ most nights
Leopard Moth - 40+ most nights
Chrysoteuchia culmella - 40+ most nights
Various Yponomeuta species - 30+ most nights
 
Top moths included 

Apotomis lineana - 2nd garden record and first recorded on the 12th July 2022.
Garden Dart - Not a common moth by any means, 4th for the garden.
Gilmeria pallidactyla - New for garden surprisingly, the Yarrow Plume.
Plumed Fan-foot - First appeared in my garden in 2024, and year on year has become more regular, both a male and a female present to the trap on Monday night.
Round-winged Muslin - New for garden and expected eventually as I take it at the local fens on a yearly basis.
Tree-lichen Beauty - My first garden June record of this species. A species I still associate with August!
 
Still warm and the nights are a little cooler, but that was about to change as we came into the 2nd week of July. 
 
Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 559 species 
 
29/06/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap
 
Macro Moths
  
Drinker 1 [NFY]
Garden Dart 1 [NFY]
Mere Wainscot 1 [NFY]
Plumed Fan-foot 2 [NFY]
Round-winged Muslin 1 [NFG]
Tree-lichen Beauty 1 [NFY] 

Micro Moths

Apotomis lineana 1 [NFY]
Aroga velocella 1 [NFY] 
Gillmeria pallidactyla 1 [NFG] 
Mompha epilobiella 1 [NFY] 
 
Tree-lichen Beauty

Apotomis lineana

Aroga velocella

Drinker

Garden Dart

Gillmeria pallidactyla

Mere Wainscot

Mompha epilobiella

Plumed Fan-foot

Round-winged Muslin

 
Posted by Bennyboymothman at 20:09