Dusky by night, misty by morning

A cold night and down to 9 degrees overnight, with a thick mist by the morning. 19 species was still above average for the time of year and conditions.

Best moth was a cracking Dusky-lemon Sallow, only the 4th garden record and generally a once a year moth here.

A Scarce Bordered Straw was nice to see as well having not seen one for a few weeks, and it had been over a month since I last saw a Plutella xylostella in the garden, normally a regular moth this time of year.

A couple of milder nights approaching so hopefully I can score some more nice species. 

 

Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 703 species 

 

03/10/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Dusky-lemon Sallow 1 [NFY]

Scarce Bordered Straw 1 

 

Micro Moths

 

Plutella xylostella 1 

 

Scarce Bordered Straw

Dusky-lemon Sallow

700 species and hitting the mothing red-line

I have now hit a yearly all time high of 700 species, and that's probably the absolute maximum that my garden should/could attain. It was very apt that the 700th species was a Red-line Quaker, literally on the limit!

The 701st species also turned up with a fine Blair's Shoulder-knot.

Other good species included another two Vestals, the 7th of this week alone! Formerly rare here with single records in only 3 of the last 6 years.

Lunar Underwing was most prevalent, with Small Mottled Willow close behind, and Deep-brown Dart are having a really good year, with 4 to 5 most evenings.

A particularly nice example with dark markings was worthy of a quick snap. 

 

Endotricha flammealis go on and on these days, so it was no surprise to record 2 overnight, such a delicate and colourful little micro moth. 

The best moth last night though was a glorious Gold Spot, a moth I missed out on last year, a rare moth in my garden, moth no.702!

 

Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 702 species 

 

02/10/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Blair's Shoulder-knot 1 [NFY]

Gold Spot 1 [NFY]

Red-line Quaker 1 [NFY] 

Lunar Underwing 12

Vestal 2 

 

Micro Moths 

 

Acleris rhombana 1

Endotricha flammealis 2 

 

Blair's Shoulder-knot

Endotricha flammealis

Gold Spot

Lunar Underwing

Red-line Quaker

Vestals

 

Some late moths on the last of the month

Some late moths arrived last night to the trap, there was a late rain shower and the patio was soaked by 10pm, so I turned the trap off and went through the trap.

In the bottom was a Southern Wainscot, my latest record to date. The latest for the county appears to be on the 3rd of October, 12 years ago, so only a few days shy of being the latest.

Then whilst I was putting the trap back together, I noticed a Pyralid on the vane. A very late Acrobasis suavella was potted up, and what was to be the latest for the county, by over two weeks! (Previous latest 13th of September).

We run again tonight on a drier but much cooler night. Not expecting much at all!

 

Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 699 species 

 

30/09/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Southern Wainscot 1

 

Micro Moths 

 

Acrobasis suavella 1

 

Southern Wainscot

Acrobasis suavella

 

 

 

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

 

Warm but still fairly quiet

A warm start to the night last night, with temperatures still in the high teens at 11pm. This morning it dropped to a fairly pleasant 14 degrees.

All that warmth and there still wasn't a great deal, maybe 30 moths at best.

At least there was some interest though and with 1 new species for the year in the shape of a Brown-spot Pinion.

A second Palpita vitrealis was good to see, and still getting some lovely forms of Beaded Chestnut and Lunar Underwings, some real orange specimens turning up last night of both. 

Average weather tonight, but tomorrow night looks rather spectacular for the time of year. 

 

Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 697 species 

 

27/09/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Brown-spot Pinion 1 [NFY]

Beaded Chestnut 2

Lunar Underwing 5

 

Micro Moths 

 

Palpita vitrealis 1  

 

Palpita vitrealis

Beaded Chestnut

Brown-spot Pinion

Lunar Underwing

 

Very quiet and cool

Late moths continue with Small Dusty Waves turning up last night and a Nutmeg, but very quiet otherwise and less than 10 moths up until 11pm, which prompted me to switch the trap off.

Best moth was a rarely seen female Wax Moth. I record loads of the males, but females always feel a bit more special, and chunkier too!

I was asked a few years back to provide several photo for the then, upcoming Pyralid and Crambid Moths of the British Isles. One species that was required was a female Wax Moth, luckily in the archives, I did manage to source one for inclusion.

Two cooler nights coming up so might not bother.

Tuesday night looks promising though. 

 

Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 696 species 

 

26/09/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Micro Moths

Wax Moth (Galleria mellonella) 1 Female

 

 

Twin Beaded

Not much to report recently.

Last night I did record the nearly all of the expected set of Noctua species which included Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing, Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing, Lesser Yellow Underwing, Large Yellow Underwing & Lunar Yellow Underwing.

Late moths included Beautiful Hook-tip, Wax Moth and several Brimstone Moths.

A north wind has hampered the catch, and lows of 10-13 degrees is sub-optimal for here. 

On Thursday night, a duo of Beaded Chestnut turned up, the 696th species for the year.

That is all for now. 

 

Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 696 species 

 

24/09/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Beaded Chestnut 2 [NFY]

 

Beaded Chestnut 1

Beaded Chestnut 2

 

A warm if a bit breezy night

Tuesday night saw the towel removed from the top of the trap, egg trays placed around the base, and the plug firmly seated into the outdoor socket.

All was set for a decent night, and indeed it was!

With lows of 17 degrees, it wasn't so much a busy night, but there were plenty of expected species in good numbers and several new for year species as well. 

Migrants were also very welcome, with 2 each a piece of Vestal and Crocidosema plebejana, the latter only the 2nd and 3rd for the garden, in fact all 3 were from this year.

Dewick's Plusia was back after a few months holiday, and there were 3 interesting Coleophora potted up for further investigation.

Edging ever closer to the 700 species for the year mark! 

 

Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 695 species 

 

22/09/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Barred Sallow 1 [NFY]

Black Rustic 1 [NFY] 

Pine Carpet 1 [NFY] 

Dewick's Plusia 1

Vestal 2 

Macro Moths

Coleophora sp 3 (tbc) 

Crocidosema plebejana 2

 

Vestal

Barred Sallow

Black Rustic

Coleophora sp

Crocidosema plebejana

Dewick's Plusia

Pine Carpet

Warmer and calmer, things improve

A marked improvement to the trap on Monday night, after quite a few nights dark.

It was certainly worth trying once more, with lows of 15 degrees and a more humid feel to the air.

Not huge numbers of anything, but some lovely early Autumn species starting to show now.

Two Sallows, one of each colour form was a nice pair, yet another Vestal, a year first Deep-brown Dart, and a couple of decent micros with Acleris rhombana reappearing and possible Spilonota laricana which will be retained for dissection, a species which isn't on the garden list. 

A season first Black-spotted Chestnut made its earliest appearance.

More of the same to come hopefully.

 

Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 692 species 

 

21/09/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Deep-brown Dart 1 [NFY] 

Sallow 2 [NFY] 

Black-spotted Chestnut 1

Vestal 1 

Macro Moths

Acleris rhombana 1

Spilonota laricana pos (tbc)

 

Vestal

Acleris rhombana

Black-spotted Chestnut

Deep-brown Dart

Sallow and Sallow f flavescens

Sallow

Spilonota laricana pos

Chippenham Fen - Field Trip - 14th September

Amazingly it had been over a month since by last visit to my local fen, so it was well worth the effort to get all my jobs done before venturing out at a much earlier time of 7:15pm, it is amazing how quickly the nights are now drawing in!

3 traps were setup as the light faded fast in my head torch.

A breeze developed an hour or so into darkness, and annoyingly did not ease up through the night, gusting quite strongly at intervals.

The catch was well down due to this but it is always worth getting some late records on the board, with several micros extending their flight periods year on year.

Aproaerema taeniolella, Evergestis pallidata and a very late partial second-brood of Olindia schumacherana, a rather banging example as well with a lovely colouration.

Best macro was a Yellow-tail, funny that a seemingly common moth makes it onto one of my most wanted moths of the year. This is only my 2nd sighting all year! With just 1 other record to the garden trap. Where on earth have they gone? A really common moth 10+ years ago.

Brother Brown-tail however is doing very well in comparison.

 

Like last time, Vestals featured to two of the traps.

 

Might not get any more trips in this year now, we'll see. 

 

 

14/09/26 - Chippenham Fen - East Cambridgeshire - 1x 125w Clear MV Trap, 1x 250w Clear Robinson Trap & 1x 30w LED Trap

Macro Moths

Autumnal Rustic 
Barred Hook-tip 
Beautiful Hook-tip 
Brimstone Moth 
Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing 
Centre-barred Sallow 
Clancy's Rustic 
Copper Underwing 
Dingy Footman 
Double-striped Pug 
Feathered Gothic
Fern
Flounced Rustic
Frosted Orange 
Green Carpet 
Kent Black Arches 
Large Yellow Underwing 
Large Wainscot 
Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing
Lesser Yellow Underwing 
Light Emerald 
Lunar Yellow Underwing 
Marbled Clover 
Old Lady 
Orange Swift 
Pretty Chalk Carpet 
Scarce Silver-lines 
Setaceous Hebrew Character 
Silver Y 
Small Mottled Willow 
Small Wainscot 
Snout 
Southern Wainscot 
Straw Dot 
Straw Underwing 
Square-spot Rustic 
Turnip Moth 
Vestal 
White-point 
Willow Beauty 
Yellow-tail

Micro Moths

Acleris emargana 
Agonopterix alstromeriana 
Agonopterix arenella 
Agonopterix heracliana 
Ancylosis oblitella 
Aproaerema anthyllidella
Aproaerema taeniolella 
Argyresthia goedartella 
Argyresthia semitestacella
Argyresthia pruniella 
Aspila funebrana 
Bedellia somnulentella
Brachmia blandella 
Cameraria ohridella
Carcina quercana 
Cataclysta lemnata 
Coleophora vestianiella 
Cosmopterix scribaiella
Cydalima perspectalis 
Cydia fagiglandana 
Elachista canapennella
Elachista obliquella 
Elophila nymphaeata 
Emmelina monodactyla 
Emmetia marginea 
Epinotia nisella 
Epinotia tenerana 
Epiphyas postvittana 
Eudonia pallida 
Eudonia truncicolella
Evergestis pallidata 
Hypsopyqgia costalis 
Monopis weaverella 
Neocochylis dubitana 
Neocochylis molliculana 
Nomophila noctuella 
Olindia schumacherana
Oncocera semirubella
Pandemis heparana 
Pediasia contaminella 
Pyrausta aurata 
Scrobipalpa costella 
Scrobipalpa ocellatella 
Udea ferrugalis

 

Yellow-tail

30w LED Trap

Aproaerema taeniolella

Cosmopterix scribaiella

Evergestis pallidata

Kent Black Arches

Large Wainscot

Olindia schumacherana

 

 

 

Cooler and quieter

Not much going on here now, with catches sliding down to 30 to 40 moths of 20 species on cooler nights, and it has also been rather breezy.

Not feeling the vibes tonight so a welcome night off catching up on other bits and sleep!

 

A couple more catches from the past couple of nights.

 

Best were two new species for the year, Depressaria badiella & Large Wainscot. The former hasn't been seen for two years here, but Large Wainscot is a regular, sometimes with 15+ individuals in one night.

 

Only other bits of note were a season first freshly emerged Satellite (Which will go on to hibernate until Spring, if it survives the trials and tribulations ahead of it), and the third Scarce Bordered Straw of the year which is always a noteworthy species being far inland.

 

Warming up a bit next week, but night time temps still dipping a bit low. 

 

Moth garden list for 2026 stands at 690 species 

 

15/09/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Satellite 1

Scarce Bordered Straw 1 

Macro Moths

Depressaria badiella 1 [NFY]

 

 

16/09/26 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Large Wainscot 1 [NFY]

 

Large Wainscot

Satellite

Depressaria badiella

Scarce Bordered Straw