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

Friday, 9 May 2014

Bury Wood and Gadesprings Field Trip report - 07/05/14

We planned another field trip to a previously un-trapped Wood owned by the Boxmoor Trust on Wednesday night, it was blowing an awful gale at times, threatening rain and getting cooler by the hour and I was wondering whether it would be at all worth it.
Luckily access to this wood was brilliant, parking the cars was easy and it was only a short walk to set the traps up in the quickly fading light.
The moths were pretty quick to respond and this was probably due to the conditions deteriorating as the night progressed.
First moth in was a Brimstone Moth...we weren't surprised!

Second moth was what I initially thought a Nematopogon swammerdamella, but a closer look at home revealed it to be Nematopogon schwarziellus instead.

Third moth I potted up was an Incurvaria and not masculella this time, the slightly less common Incurvaria oehlmanniella.

The Brimstone's didn't stop after the first one as we had got 15 + by the end of the night, along with good numbers of White-pinion Spotted and Nut-tree Tussock (both 15+ individuals as well)

Broken-barred Carpet was very fresh and interesting to catch two slightly worn Water Carpet to compare with.

We struggled to get to 20 species which was a shame but I really enjoyed a good night out.


Catch Report - 07/05/14 - Bury Wood - Hemel Hempstead - 2x 125w MV Robinson Trap, 1x 160w MBT Robinson Trap & 1x 80w Actinic Suitcase Trap.

Macro Moths

15x Brimstone Moth
2x Common Pug
1x Common Carpet
1x Brindled Pug
15x Nut-tree Tussock
1x Purple Bar

15x White-pinion Spotted
2x Red Twin-spot Carpet 
1x Broken-barred Carpet
1x Lime Hawk-moth
4x Orange Footman
2x Water Carpet
1x White-spotted Pug

Micro Moths

1x Nematopogon schwarziellus
1x Incurvaria oehlmanniella
1x Syndemis musculana 
2x Phyllonorycter harrisella
5x Phyllonorycter messaniella
1x Caloptilia syringella

White-pinion Spotted











Purple Bar










Incurvaria oehlmanniella










Broken-barred Carpet












Caloptilia syringella










Nematopogon schwarziellus










White-spotted Pug

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