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 8 May 2015

Getting better slowly but surely

Hello all.
Well the night time temperatures certainly have swung in favour for a good bit of moth trapping....finally! with mins of 9 degrees this morning, it looks set to warm up considerably by next week.
Firstly the Stigmella I found on our patio door on Monday night will be sent to John Langmaid to be verified. It is either Stigmella lemniscella, or Stigmella hybnerella, both of which would be new for me.
Yesterday morning I was also lucky to find another moth on or patio door, an Esperia sulphurella, which was new for the garden and my first new Micro moth for the garden this year bringing my list up to 226 species.

The trap was quite empty this morning unfortunately but it did hold a few surprises.
A Mullein was a new record for the garden being my 4th new Macro moth this year and bringing the running total to 269 species.
Other new for years were a single Adela reamurella on the bush I found them last year, Shuttle-shaped Dart and Lesser Swallow Prominent, my first taste of Prominent action.


Catch Report -  07/05/15 - Back Garden - Stevenage - 1x 125w MV Robinson Trap

Macro Moths

1x Mullein [NFG]
1x Lesser Swallow Prominent [NFY]
1x Shuttle-shaped Dart [NFY]
1x Nut-tree Tussock

Micro Moths

1x Esperia sulphurella [NFG] - Found daytime 07/05/15
1x Adela reamurella [NFY]
1x Ambylptilia acanthadactyla
1x Emmelina monodactyla
2x Epiphyas postvittana

Mullein










Shuttle-shaped Dart













Adela reamurella
Posted by Bennyboymothman at 17:04

2 comments:

  1. Andrew8 May 2015 at 18:29

    I've just discovered your blog, Ben although I have followed you on Flickr for a long time. An impressive list, and I will be overjoyed if I get anywhere near that. We moved here a month ago and I have been running a trap 3 weeks on and off. I'm up to 54 so far 44 macros, 10 micros. I'm looking forward to following your updates.

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  2. Trent Duval9 May 2015 at 00:47

    I'm amazed at the year first Shuttle Dart record. 15 miles north of you and I recorded my 54th of the year.
    Nice Mullein, I also had one last night, beautiful moth.

    ReplyDelete

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