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
Contact Email : bensale@rocketmail.com

My Latest Notables and Rarities

Monday, 3 October 2011

Catch Report - 30/09/11 - Farmland/Back Garden - Hertfordshire

30th September 2011: Braughing Friars, Herts. TL 4024


The old farmyard at Braughing Friars sits in an area of the county that remained poorly recorded for moths when we produced the book, so when Ben Sale told me he was moving back from overseas (or as he prefers to call it - Essex) to his parents home here I was naturally delighted. I was even more delighted last week when he started catching Dusky-lemon Sallows by the bucket load hence the impromptu Herts Moth Group outing last night. I apologise for the very, very short notice some of you did manage to make it and it all went rather well. Ben has been getting well over a hundred moths per night here, of around 30 or so species, in his single mv trap for the last week. So, we added another three lights and he added another one to make 5 traps altogether; these were run from just before dark (about 7 pm) to about 6.30 am (well, Ben's traps at least were examined that early. I was eventually awoken at 7.30 by someone who shall remain nameless violently shaking the Landrover and demanding that I get my traps in!!! The air temperature stayed in the twenties and it was shirt sleeves until around 10 pm when it started to become just a little cooler. A heavy dew fell by morning, but was soon dispersed by the hot sun. Unless I missed anything, there were exactly 50 species by morning, of which 9 came to the lights after midnight when we had abandoned them until the morning. These nine were 2091: A. ipsillon, 2092: A. puta, 2232: A. nigra, 2240: L. leautieri, 2256: E. transversa, 2297: A. pyramidea, 2364: G. flavago, 2375: R. lutosa and 2384: H. ambigua. Most others came to the traps by 22.30 hours. Numbers are approximate. Note the third generation of Willow Beauty also evident elsewhere across the county the moths are all minute! The Merveille-de-Jour were all spanking fresh, we got 3 Dusky-lemon Sallow in all and as a bonus we caught some Deep-brown Dart the taxonomic status of which is questionable in that the European species is probably not the same as ours! The full list is below.


Colin's list


Yponomeutidae

0462 Ypsolopha sequella (Clerck, 1759) 4

0464 Plutella xylostella (Linnaeus, 1758) Diamond-back Moth 1

Oecophoridae

0647 Hofmannophila pseudospretella (Stainton, 1849) Brown House Moth 1

Blastobasidae

0874 Blastobasis lacticolella Rebel, 1940 1

Tortricidae

1036 Acleris forsskaleana (Linnaeus, 1758) 1

1041 Acleris sparsana ([Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775) 1

1048 Acleris variegana ([Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775) Garden Rose Tortrix 4

Crambidae

1395 Udea ferrugalis (Hübner, 1796) Rusty-dot Pearl 1

Pterophoridae

1524 Emmelina monodactyla (Linnaeus, 1758) 1

Geometridae

1760 Chloroclysta siterata (Hufnagel, 1767) Red-green Carpet 3

1764 Chloroclysta truncata (Hufnagel, 1767) Common Marbled Carpet 2

1769 Thera britannica (Turner H J, 1925) Spruce Carpet 2

1894 Chiasmia clathrata (Linnaeus, 1758) Latticed Heath 1

1906 Opisthograptis luteolata (Linnaeus, 1758) Brimstone Moth 2

1923 Colotois pennaria (Linnaeus, 1761) Feathered Thorn 1

1937 Peribatodes rhomboidaria ([Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775) Willow Beauty 3

Noctuidae

2087 Agrotis segetum ([Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775) Turnip Moth 2

2091 Agrotis ipsilon (Hufnagel, 1766) Dark Sword-grass 1

2092 Agrotis puta (Hübner, 1803) Shuttle-shaped Dart 1

2107 Noctua pronuba Linnaeus, 1758 Large Yellow Underwing 10

2109 Noctua comes Hübner, 1813 Lesser Yellow Underwing 1

2110 Noctua fimbriata (Schreber, 1759) Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing 3

2126 Xestia c-nigrum (Linnaeus, 1758) Setaceous Hebrew Character 2

2134 Xestia xanthographa ([Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775) Square-spot Rustic 1

2199 Mythimna pallens (Linnaeus, 1758) Common Wainscot 1

2231 Aporophyla lutulenta ([Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775) Deep-brown Dart 2

2232 Aporophyla nigra (Haworth, 1809) Black Rustic 1

2240 Lithophane leautieri Boursin, 1957 Blair's Shoulder-knot 1

2247 Dichonia aprilina (Linnaeus, 1758) Merveille du Jour 5

2248 Dryobotodes eremita (Fabricius, 1775) Brindled Green 5

2256 Eupsilia transversa (Hufnagel, 1766) Satellite 1

2258 Conistra vaccinii (Linnaeus, 1761) Chestnut 5

2262 Agrochola circellaris (Hufnagel, 1766) Brick 15

2263 Agrochola lota (Clerck, 1759) Red-line Quaker 3

2264 Agrochola macilenta (Hübner, 1809) Yellow-line Quaker 10

2266 Agrochola litura (Linnaeus, 1761) Brown-spot Pinion 40

2267 Agrochola lychnidis ([Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775) Beaded Chestnut 70

2270 Omphaloscelis lunosa (Haworth, 1809) Lunar Underwing 25

2272 Xanthia aurago ([Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775) Barred Sallow 15

2273 Xanthia togata (Esper, 1788) Pink-barred Sallow 20

2274 Xanthia icteritia (Hufnagel, 1766) Sallow 10

2275 Xanthia gilvago ([Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775) Dusky-lemon Sallow 3

2297 Amphipyra pyramidea (Linnaeus, 1758) Copper Underwing 1

2306 Phlogophora meticulosa (Linnaeus, 1758) Angle Shades 1

2361 Hydraecia micacea (Esper, 1789) Rosy Rustic 1

2364 Gortyna flavago ([Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775) Frosted Orange 1

2375 Rhizedra lutosa (Hübner, 1803) Large Wainscot 1

2384 Hoplodrina ambigua ([Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775) Vine's Rustic 1

2434 Diachrysia chrysitis (Linnaeus, 1758) Burnished Brass 2

2477 Hypena proboscidalis (Linnaeus, 1758) Snout 6



Below are my lists from both of my traps.

Cat
ch Report - 30/09/11 - 1x 125w MV Robinson Trap - Farmland

Macro Moths

5x Sallow
2x Pink-barred Sallow
24x Large Yellow Underwing
3x Wilow Beauty
16x Brown-spot Pinion
3x Black Rustic
9x Barred Sallow
2x Angle Shades
12x Lunar Underwing
15x Beaded Chestnut
2x Snout
3x Yellow-line Quaker
4x Chestnut
8x Setaceous Hebrew Character
1x Red-line Quaker
2x Burnished Brass
2x Lesser Yellow Underwing
1x Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing
1x Vine's Rustic


Micro Moths

1x Acleris variegana
1x Emmelina monodactyla



Catch Report - 30/09/11 - 1x 125w MV Robinson Trap - Back Garden

Macro Moths

5x Sallow
1x Turnip Moth
1x Deep-brown Dart
1x Rosy Rustic
2x Blair's Shoulder-knot
1x Frosted Orange
2x Pink-barred Sallow
16x Large Yellow Underwing
1x Latticed Heath
3x Wilow Beauty
23x Brown-spot Pinion
3x Black Rustic
2x Barred Sallow
2x Angle Shades
1x Satellite
1x Common Wainscot
7x Lunar Underwing
21x Beaded Chestnut
9x Snout
3x Yellow-line Quaker
3x Chestnut
8x Setaceous Hebrew Character
1x Red-line Quaker
1x Square-spot Rustic

2x Lesser Yellow Underwing
1x Brindled Green
2x Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing



Micro Moths

1x Acleris variegana
1x Ypsolopha Sequella



Chestnut











Dusky-lemon Sallow











Satellite












Green-brindled Crescent










Merveille du Jour












Rusty Dot Pearl

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