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

Sunday, 15 February 2015

Mothing in the garden : Update

Hello all.

I have been a bit lazy updating my blog as of late, partly due to not being able to photograph the moths that I have been catching as it is too dark in the morning and too dark when I return from work in the evening thus a weekly report is all I can muster at the moment!

 I ran the trap on Tuesday night and last night.

 On Tuesday I managed 3 moths of 3 species, and last night I did a little better with 5 moths of 4 species.
The highlight being only my second garden record of Acleris hastiana on Tuesday and last night my first Spring record of Dark Chestnut.

 The Spring Usher was sporting a very similar pattern and colour to an Oak Beauty.

 I am currently experimenting between using an Actinic and a Mercury Vapor trap, though last night although milder, did see the MV attracting slightly more.

 I hope to run the trap a few night next week, but although the forecast is quite mild at around 8 degrees daytime, the temperatures will be suffering a bit at night so I will see how it goes.


Catch Report -  10/02/15 - Back Garden - Stevenage - 2x 40w Actinic Robinson Trap

Macro Moths

1x March Moth [NFY]
1x Pale Brindled Beauty [NFY]

Micro Moths

1x Acleris hastiana [NFY]


Catch Report -  14/02/15 - Back Garden - Stevenage - 2x 40w Actinic Robinson Trap

Macro Moths

1x Dark Chestnut [NFY]
1x Spring Usher
2x Pale Brindled Beauty

Micro Moths

1x Epiphyas postvittana [NFY]

Acleris hastiana










Dark Chestnut











Pale Brindled Beauty












Spring Usher



Posted by Bennyboymothman at 12:12

4 comments:

  1. Broom Birder15 February 2015 at 18:17

    Ben 10.............Lol! (funny, only if you've got kids) Doing very well matey!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Trent Duval15 February 2015 at 18:19

    Nice hastiana, only 1 record my end a while back. Traps are on tonight, it's 6.8 deg outside right now (18.15) so I'm hoping for a moth or two .....

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ragged Robin16 February 2015 at 13:04

    I trapped a Spring Usher (a first for me) at the weekend which looks very similar to yours. I had to get confirmation of id as I wondered initially about Oak Beauty.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Bennyboymothman25 February 2015 at 19:55

    :o hehe i'm at 11 now. Good luck tonight guys if you are trapping.

    ReplyDelete

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