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, 3 September 2026

France Day 2 - 23/08/26

Another really productive night out on the side patio of our villa.
Running twin 40w Actinic vane setups hanging from bungees, the moths came pouring in, not huge numbers, but the variety was staggering and there were so many different species from the previous night.
 
There were several regionally scarce species as well, and some real headaches for identification, so much so, that I had to lump several species together for fear of being incorrect!
 
The night was once again another warm one, with lows of 21 degrees at 5am. Being late August, it didn't really get light until half 6, so there was plenty of time to pot up the moths from the walls and surrounding floor tiles.
The local Lizards and Geckos, after just one night had already cottoned on to my activities! I guess several moths succumbed to their appetite. 
This was also the first night that I noticed bats racing up and down the pool and across the lights.
 
It's always interesting to see regional forms of our common moths, there were several Clays attracted to the lamps, a few looked rather unusual indeed.
 
One of my favourites was a lovely dainty plume species, Alucita palodactyla, and a rather unusual looking Waved Black proved to be the southern speciality Parascotia nisseni. 
 
Rarest moth was probably the Agonopterix nodiflorella, keyed out on the palps and forewing markings. But I can't be 100% unfortunately.  
 
23/08/26 - Felines Minervois - Herault Department - 40w Actinic & 30w UV LED lamp
 

Macro Moths

Clay - Mythimna ferrago
Dorset Cream Wave - Stegania trimaculata
Eublemma pura
Hoary Footman - Eilema caniola
Horse Chestnut Moth - Pachycnemia hippocastanaria
Idaea cf contiguaria
Middle Lace Border - Scopula decorata
Pale-shouldered Cloud - Chloantha hyperici
Parascotia nisseni 
Scopula submutata
Small Waved Umber - Horisme vitalbata 
White-speck - Mythimna unipuncta
 

Micro Moths

Acrobasis fallouella 
Acrobasis legatea
Agonopterix cf nodiflorella
Alucita palodactyla 
Antigastra catalaunalis
Apatema mediopallidum 
Aristotelia decoratella
Aproaerema cf patruella 
Blastobasis glandulella 
Dolicharthria punctalis
Dysspastus cf fallax
Elachista dispunctella
Emmelina monodactyla
Epinotia thapsiana 
Epischnia cf asteris illotella
Hypsopygia incarnatalis
Laodamia combustella
Lecithocera nigrana 
Nepticulidae sp
Pyroderces argyrogrammos 
Symmocoides oxybiella

Pale-shouldered Cloud - Chloantha hyperici

Parascotia nisseni

Scopula submutata

Acrobasis fallouella

Acrobasis legatea

Agonopterix cf nodiflorella

Alucita palodactyla

Apatema mediopallidum

Aristotelia decoratella

Dolicharthria punctalis

Epinotia thapsiana

Horse Chestnut Moth - Pachycnemia hippocastanaria

Hypsopygia incarnatalis

Laodamia combustella


Posted by Bennyboymothman at 21:24