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, 23 May 2015

Happy times at Hexton

Well, finally after two previous attempts at Hexton Chalk Pit not going particularly well by this time of year standards we came up trumps.
The conditions were pretty much perfect. We did get a little rain and we did get some breezy periods but the ambient temperature didn't drop below 13 degrees up until the time we left at 3am!

We ran four traps spread out at various altitudes of the chalk pit to cover as much of the habitat as possible.
Some lovely moths were observed during the night and in reasonable numbers as well with several species breaking the 25+ examples recorded.
For me it was a real treat seeing both Small Purple-barred and Pyrausta nigrata, both pretty uncommon moths in the County, what a stunner the former is!
Other good species included 2 Alder Moths, Epinotia nanana, Sandy Carpet, Dwarf Pug and Agonopterix pallorella.

There are still some species to clear up on with identifications which will be done in due course.


Catch Report -  22/05/15 - Hexton Chalk Pit - 2x 125w MV Robinson Trap 1x 160w MBT Robinson Trap & 1x 80w Actinic + 26w CFL Suitcase Trap


Macro Moths

2x Alder Moth
1x Angle Shades
1x Beautiful Golden-Y
8x Brimstone Moth

2x Brown Rustic
1x Chinese Character
1x Clouded Border
1x Clouded Silver
1x Common Carpet
1x Common Pug
15x Common Swift
2x Common Wave

2x Flame
15x Flame Shoulder
30+ Green Carpet

1x Green Silver-lines
1x Grey-pine Carpet
6x Grey Pug

1x Heart & Dart
1x Iron Prominent
4x Latticed Heath
6x Light Brocade

1x Lime-speck Pug
4x Marbled Minor
10x Marbled White Spot
3x Mottled Pug
2x Mottled Rustic
2x Nut-tree Tussock

1x Oak Hook-tip
1x Oak Nycteoline
3x Oak-tree Pug
15x Orange Footman

2x Pale Oak Beauty
1x Pale Prominent
5x Pale Tussock
4x Pebble Prominent

1x Peppered Moth
1x Purple Bar

3x Red Twin-spot Carpet
1x Rustic Shoulder-knot
1x Sandy Carpet
4x Scalloped Hazel
1x Scorched Carpet
1x Scorched Wing
2x Setaceous Hebrew Character
4x Shaded Pug
8x Shears
1x Shuttle-shaped Dart
1x Silver-ground Carpet
1x Small Elephant Hawk-moth
1x Small Phoenix
2x Small Purple-barred [NEW!]
1x Small Square-spot
3x Small Waved Umber
1x Straw Dot
3x Treble Lines
1x Treble-bar
4x Waved Umber
12x White Ermine
6x Yellow-barred Brindle

Micro Moths
 
1x
Agapeta hamana
30+ Cochylimorpha straminea
20+ Scoparia ambigualis
1x Nematopogon swammerdamella
2x Nematopogon schwarziellus
2x Elachista argentella
3x Epiblema cynosbatella
1x Aspilapteryx tringipennella
1x Agonopterix pallorella
1x Agonopterix arenella
1x Pyrausta nigrata [NEW!]
1x Aroga velocella
1x Epintia nanana
3x Monopis weaverella 
1x Pseudoswammerdamia combinella
3x Celypha lacunana
1x Pseudargyrotoza conwagana
1x Caloptilia syringella
1x Acleris cristana
1x Metzneria metzneriella
1x Glyphipterix simpliciella
1x Crambus lathoniellus
2x Cochylis atricapitana
1x Mompha raschkiella
1x Cameraria ohridella
1x Elachista atricomella 


Small Purple-barred













Pyrausta nigrata












Small Purple-barred













Elachista atricomella











Red Twin-spot Carpet











Scoparia ambigualis













Pseudargyrotoza conwagana













Glyphipterix simpliciella











Epinotia nanana











Dwarf Pug











Agonopterix pallorella












Cochylimorpha straminea variation







Aroga velocella



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