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, 16 September 2026

A NIce moth!

Well not just one nice moth, two nice moths were found in the trap on the morning after the 13th.

A garden first Loxostege sticticalis sitting on the wall behind the trap, and another garden first in the shape of my very first Ni Moth, 20 years in the making, sitting underneath the funnel!  Wowee, and it was in such pristine condition as well.

I always worried about over-looking the hundreds of Silver Y's over the years, but seeing one for the first time, affirmed my doubts that I really haven't ever seen one before, they do look rather different in composition. 

Not content with that, my first adult Fomoria septembrella was nabbed, sitting on the edge of the trap vanes, the third garden first of the night.

These two were backed up by year firsts of Autumnal Rustic, Lunar Underwing & a battered Old Lady (the moth that is). 

There were some rather late moths as well including Blastodacna hellerella, Elachista freyerella and Oncocera semirubella.

A second Red Underwing was also noteworthy, sadly flying off at dawn.

What a night, and that might be the last proper excitement of the year now. 

 
Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 688 species 
 
13/09/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Autumnal Rustic 1 [NFY]
Lunar Underwing 2 [NFY] 
Ni Moth 1 [NFG] 
Old Lady 1 [NFY] 

Macro Moths

Fomoria septembrella 1 [NFG]
Loxostege sticticalis 1 [NFG] 
Blastodacna hellerella 1 
Elachista freyerella 1 
Oncocera semirubella 1 
 
Old Lady

Autumnal Rustic

Blastodacna hellerella

Elachista freyerella

Fomoria septembrella

Loxostege sticticalis

Lunar Underwing

Ni Moth

 
Posted by Bennyboymothman at 21:11