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, 30 September 2026

A warm but breezy night with early morning rain

A good catch last night with plenty of moths come the morning.

Unfortunately a rain shower made some moths stick to the patio, as I was up late at half 6 instead of around 5am (thinking I would miss the shower if I had actually got up in time).

Some migration still happening here, with 2 more Vestals (One each of brown and pink forms), Rush Veneer and a couple of Silver Y's. I haven't seen a Diamond-back for a few week now though.

Two new species were potted up.

The first is always a pleasure to get, the beautiful Merveille du Jour. I thought this may have been my earliest record, but it isn't. Although it is only my 3rd ever September record of this species.

The Mallow was the other newbie, a rather large Geometridae that is synonymous with the start of Autumn and very consistent with its yearly arrival time.

Other bits and bobs not seen for a few weeks included Spruce Carpet, Mottled Rustic and a tiny Caloptilia rufipennella.

Just one more species to go until the big 700! 

Nights will start to get cooler again as we head in to the weekend.  

 
Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 699 species 
 
29/09/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Mallow 1 [NFY]
Merveille du Jour 1 [NFY]
Beaded Chestnut 3
Mottled Rustic 1
Spruce Carpet 1 
 
Micro Moths 
 
Caloptilia rufipennella 1
 
Spruce Carpet

Beaded Chestnut

Caloptilia rufipennella

Mallow

Merveille du Jour

Mottled Rustic

 
Posted by Bennyboymothman at 20:16