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

Wednesday, 29 July 2026

Warm and busy nights

Some really warm nights are now upon us, although Sunday night I had a much needed rest from it all, as the temperature fell away to 14 degrees so not ideal.

Come Monday and it was another warm night with minimums of 17 degrees, if a little breezy at times, but with 20 degrees at midnight it was worth running the trap once more.

A good selection of species was observed and some scarcer second records of the year for certain species of micro moths.

There were 3 new ones for the year, two of them were tiny specks of colourful dust, Phyllocnistis saligna & Phyllonorycter stettinensis, Willow and Alder feeders respectively.  
The Phyllonorycter stettinensis was new for the garden, the 28th new micro moth this year.
 
The third new species for the year was the lovely Evergestis extimalis. 

Scythris limbella was good to see again, and since I’ve had a further 2 last night so that is 4 for the year so far. 

A third Cydia amplana was good to record also, a once scarce immigrant to our shores, it seems quite regular this year for a lot of southern folk.

More good mothing conditions on the way!

 

Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 634 species 
 
27/07/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgesshire - Actinic Trap
 
Micro Moths

Evergestis extimalis 1 [NFY] 
Phyllocnistis saligna 1 [NFY]
Phyllonorycter stettinensis 1 [NFG] 
 
Scythris limbella

Bactra furfurana

Calamotropha paludella

Cydia amplana

Evergestis extimalis

Phyllocnistis saligna

Phyllonorycter stettinensis

 
Posted by Bennyboymothman at 16:05