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

Thursday 16 October 2014

Moths are on the move again despite torrential rain

Hi all.
I have run the trap on Sunday night and Tuesday night and hopefully will run it again tonight.
On Sunday night the weather was quite cool and clear and so 5 moths was the only return for a lengthy spell of Mercury Vapor light.
But...things changed mid-week and instead of clear skies we got cloudy ones but then came the rain. Undeterred by this I still braved the trap up against the house with just a few eggs trays around it, as predicted by the morning everything was drenched.
28 moths of 17 species was a surprise indeed.
Highlights were 7 Plutella xylostella's (these are having a good year in my garden) a seldom seen Brick which I missed out on last year, a year first Sprawler and November Moth and two more cryptically patterned Acleris schalleriana.
Satellite was also a season first with one Orange Satellite and one White Satellite on each wing.

Catch Report -  12/10/14 - Back Garden - Stevenage - 1x 125w MV Robinson Trap

Macro Moths

1x Blair's Shoulder-knot
1x Barred Sallow

Micro Moths

1x Amblyptila acanthadactyla
1x Epiphyas postvittana
1x Plutella xylostella

Catch Report - 14/10/14 - Back Garden - Stevenage - 1x 125w MV Robinson Trap

Macro Moths

1x Brick [NFY]
1x Sprawler [NFY]
1x November Moth sp [NFY]
1x Lesser Yellow Underwing
1x Satellite
2x Yellow-line Quaker
2x Green-brindled Crescent
1x Snout
1x Common Marbled Carpet
1x Pink-barred Sallow
1x Grey Shoulder-knot

Micro Moths

2x Amblyptilia acanthadactyla
1x Epiphyas postvittana
2x Acleris schalleriana
7x Plutella xylostella
2x Acleris sparsana

Sprawler










Satellite












Brick











Pair of Shoulder-knots











Acleris schalleriana

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