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

Tuesday, 1 May 2012

Catch Report - 30/04/12 - Farmland/Back Garden - Hertfordshire

I chanced on putting the trap out tonight as it was predicted quite mild with minimal disruption from the rain, so I thought!
It rained practically all night I reckon, and on inspection in the morning, all the egg trays were sodden and I expected absolutely zero.
Imagine my amazement then when checking the undersides of the egg trays and in the trap, it was like its own little micro system, bees, flies, ants, spiders and of course a handful of moths, and some better early summer species at last, very chuffed!
Also trapped a first for me in the form of a Depressaria sp. possibly heraclei?
I have no experience with these species at all so any help would be greatly appreciated.
New for the year was Waved Umber, Red Twin-spot Carpet, Pale Prominent, Lesser Swallow Prominent, Adela reaumurella, Plutella xylostella and the Depressid sp.
7 in a really wet evening is remarkable, and it looks even better tonight, I can't wait until the morning!


Catch Report - 30/04/12 - 125w MV Robinson Trap - Back Garden/Farmland

Macro Moths

1x Lesser Swallow Prominent [NFY]  
1x Waved Umber [NFY]
1x Red Twin-spot Carpet [NFY]
1x Pale Prominent [NFY]
1x Muslin Moth 
1x Swallow Prominent
2x Flame Shoulder
4x Clouded Drab
6x Hebrew Character
1x Common Quaker

Micro Moths

1x Depressaria chaerophylli [NEW!]
1x Adela reaumurella [NFY]
1x Plutella xylostella [NFY]
2x Agonopterix alstromeriana

Lesser Swallow Prominent









Red Twin-spot Carpet

Flame Shoulder




Muslin Moth
Pale Prominent
Waved Umber



Agonopterix alstromeriana




Depressaria chaerophylli





Posted by Bennyboymothman at 20:01

1 comment:

  1. Trent Duval2 May 2012 at 12:21

    Ben, heraclei is quite a large depressaria, 23-28mm wingspan, I don't know what size your specimen is but it also looks similar to 682 Depressaria chaerophylli, 19-22mm.... It may be a gen det job. Nice catch last night !

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