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

Saturday, 14 June 2014

Bovingdon Brickworks - Hemel Hempstead - Field Trip

David, Steve and myself made a trip to Bovingdon Brickworks on Thursday night to see what we could attract to the lamps.
The day had been perfect with sunny intervals, plenty of cloud cover and a high of 27 degrees. The forecast was for clear skies towards the evening and this was indeed the case.
With a near full moon we were just hoping that it was warm enough for the moths to emerge and venture out from the undergrowth.
Indeed it was! With the temperature staying relatively mild and the car sensor still reading 13 degrees at 2.30am.
The catch was phenomenal, plenty of species, but what made it even better was the sheer amount of some species of moths, some numbering well over 40 individuals, so numbers below are as close as I could record.

Highlight for me was my first Gypsonoma oppressana.
4 Green Arches and 2 Purple Clays were also great additions.
It was also fantastic to see so many Cinnabar's (24).

It just goes to show how important this site is for wildlife and on this occasion, Moths!

 
Catch Report - 12/06/14 - Bovingdon Brickworks - Hemel Hempstead - 2x 125w MV Robinson Trap, 1x 160w MBT Robinson Trap & 1x 80w Actinic Suitcase Trap.

86 Macros and 46 Micros (132 species)

Macro Moths

6x Angle Shades
1x Beautiful Golden-Y
3x Beautiful Hook-tip
2x Bright-line Brown-eye
8x Brimstone Moth
6x Brown Rustic
1x Brown Silver-line
3x Buff Arches
4x Buff Ermine
1x Buff-tip
2x Burnished Brass
24x Cinnabar
2x Clouded Border
40+ Clouded Silver
1x Clouded-bordered Brindle
2x Common Carpet
1x Common Emerald
2x Common Footman
10x Common Marbled Carpet
5x Common Pug
6x Common Swift
1x Common Wave
1x Common White Wave
8x Coronet
3x Dark Arches
10x Double Square-spot
1x Dusky Brocade
2x Elephant Hawk-moth
3x Engrailed
1x Eyed Hawk-moth
1x Figure of Eighty
5x Flame
1x Flame Carpet
6x Flame Shoulder
1x Foxglove Pug
5x Freyer's Pug
1x Garden Carpet
4x Green Arches
1x Green Carpet
2x Green Pug
5x Green Silver-lines
10x Grey Pug
10x Heart & Dart
20x Ingrailed Clay
2x July Highflyer
1x Large Nutmeg
8x Large Yellow Underwing
1x Light Brocade
5x Light Emerald
2x Lobster Moth
1x Maple Prominent
10x Marbled Minor
1x Middle-barred Minor
5x Mottled Beauty
1x Mottled Pug
4x Mottled Rustic
1x Nutmeg
2x Orange Footman
2x Pale Prominent
1x Pale Tussock
4x Peach Blossom
1x Pebble Hook-tip
3x Peppered Moth
1x Poplar Grey
2x Poplar Hawk-moth
2x Purple Clay
1x Red Twin-spot Carpet
3x Riband Wave
3x Rustic Shoulder-knot
8x Scorched Wing
2x Setaceous Hebrew Character
5x Shoulder-striped Wainscot
5x Silver-ground Carpet
7x Small Angle Shades
2x Small Elephant Hawk-moth
3x Small Fan-foot
1x Small Phoenix
1x Small Square-spot
3x Snout
40+ Straw Dot
2x Tawny Marbled Minor
3x Treble Lines
1x Uncertain
3x White Ermine
1x White-pinion Spotted
5x Willow Beauty

Micro Moths

1x Gypsonoma oppressana [NEW!]
1x Gypsonoma dealbana
3x Crambus pascuella
10x Crambus lathoniellus
1x Nemapogon cloacella
1x Phlyctaenia perlucidalis
1x Stenoptilia bipunctidactyla
2x Hedya nubiferana
5x Hedya pruniana
2x Coleophora sp
20+ Cochylimorpha straminea
1x Mompha propinquella
1x Mompha raschkiella
5x Metzneria metzneriella
12x Pandemis heparana
5x Pandemis cerasana
2x Aphomia sociella
10x Scoparia ambigualis
2x Scoparia pyralella
1x Scoparia subfusca
 2x Eudonia pallida
2x Dipleurina lacustrata
30+ Pseudargyrotoza conwagana
2x Celypha lacunana
5x Udea olivalis
1x Anthophila fabriciana
1x Phyllonorycter harrisella
5x Cnephasia sp
2x Eurrhypara hortulata
1x Strophedra weirana
5x Epiblema cynosbatella
5x Epiblema trimaculana
2x Epiblema uddmanniana
2x Agapeta hamana
1x Caloptilia syringella
5x Evergestis forficalis
1x Eucosma cana
2x Eucosma hohenwartiana
1x Eucosma conterminana
2x Tortrix viridana
1x Archips podana
1x Yponomeuta evonymella 
1x Emmetia marginea
5x Cochylis atricapitana
1x Prays fraxinella/ruficeps
1x Carpatolechia proximella

Cnephasia sp










Cochylis atricapitana










Eucosma conterminana








 
Eudonia pallida










Green Arches













Gypsonoma oppressana











Phlyctaenia perlucidalis










Purple Clay













Stenoptilia bipunctidactyla











Tortrix viridana










Carpatolechia proximella


Posted by Bennyboymothman at 15:58

1 comment:

  1. Lucy @ A Natural Interlude15 June 2014 at 19:23

    Fantastic array of species, Ben! 24 Cinnabars must be quite a spectacle :-). Love the colours on the Green Arches.

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