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

Tuesday, 17 May 2016

Hexton day-time

Hello all.
I had an hour's mooch around Hexton Chalk Pit and was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of Lepidoptera on the wing in the warming sunshine.
The temperature was around 16 degrees but somehow felt warmer out of the stiff NE breeze.

 I scoured all over the small reserve and saw plenty flying, but the hard bit was going to be photographing them!

I noted Dingy Skipper everywhere, they were the commonest Lepidoptera flying with Small Purple-barrred and Pyrausta nigrata a close 2nd and 3rd.

I also saw my first ever Green Hairstreak, my god they are hard to photograph.

Also Burnet Companion, Pyrausta aurata and Elachista argentella were found but no Mother Shipton noted today, which I have seen here before.

Other Butterflies included Red Admiral, Orange-tip and Brimstone.

On the Bug and Beetle front there were lots of Bishop's Mitre Shield-bugs and some lovely large Elateridae, Agrypnus murinus.

All in all a blooming successful walk around!

Records below

Butterflies

Dingy Skipper 25+
Green Hairstreak 1
Red Admiral 1
Orange-tip 3
Brimstone 5

Moths

Pyrausta aurata 2
Pyrausta nigrata 20+
Burnet Companion 10+
Small Purple-barred 20+
Elachista argentella 3

Agrypnus murinus













Burnet Companion











Dingy Skipper












Elachista argetella - pair













Green Hairstreak












Pyrausta nigrata












Pyrausta nigrata











Small Purple-barred
Posted by Bennyboymothman at 07:14

2 comments:

  1. Lucy @ A Natural Interlude17 May 2016 at 10:27

    What a fantastic selection of sightings and photographs, Ben! Sounds like a blissful hour made all the more memorable by a splendid COUNTY FIRST! Congratulations and very much deserved :o).

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bennyboymothman17 May 2016 at 18:24

    Hi Lucy
    False alarm on the Pyrausta cingulata. It has now been confirmed by Colin Plant and David Shenton as just a really well marked Pyrausta nigrata! No new County record. Nwevermind!
    Take care.
    Ben

    ReplyDelete

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