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, 8 October 2026

A couple of year-listers before the wet and cold set in

Tuesday night was the last fairly favourable night, with lows of around 14 degrees but still holding up at 19c by 11pm, the trap was fairly busy with a good variety of moths, and even some most welcome micro moths.

No time to list everything but below I have added the highlights of the night.

Acleris sparsana was new for the year, and Epinotia sordidana was only the 2nd garden record after adding it to the site list only last year.

The 2nd Dusky-lemon Sallow for the year was a good one to get also, and a very fresh Dark Chestnut was most welcome. 

Cambs latest ever Maiden's Blush was noteworthy, although that might be beaten? Previous latest was September the 30th. 

Too cold now and a bit damp, I will wait for a better night I think. 

 
Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 706 species 
 
06/10/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Cypress Carpet 1
Dark Chestnut 1 
Dusky-lemon Sallow 1 
Maiden's Blush 1 
Plumed Fan-foot 1
Red-green Carpet 1  
 
Micro Moths
 
Acleris sparsana 1 [NFY]
Epinotia sordidana 1 [NFY]
Phyllonorycter messaniella 1
 
Plumed Fan-foot

Cypress Carpet

Dark Chestnut

Dusky-lemon Sallow

Epinotia sordidana

Maiden's Blush

Phyllonorycter messaniella

 
 

 

Posted by Bennyboymothman at 20:37