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 12 July 2016

Moth Trapping down on the farm part 3 - Rarities abound!


My third session on the farm was last Thursday, and I decided to run 4 traps, 2 on each site (he North and South).
The plan was to stay with the traps until around 1am then leave them running until 4.30am whilst I got a bit of kip.
The day had been a really warm and muggy one with highs of 24 degrees but threats of rain continued, but luckily it wasn't too bad overnight and the main deluge came just at dawn whilst going through the traps..not ideal I can tell you!
The main problem wasn't the precipitation threat but the wind! A constant 15mph with gusts of around 20mph did not do the night any favours but it was worth seeing how things fared despite the breezy conditions.
Overall it went ok, with numbers slightly down on what I would expect, but a healthy amount of species were there to be recorded.
Some really local and rare moths made it all worthwhile.

For starter's I recorded a joint County 2nd Anarsia lineatella, the Peach Twig-borer moth. Graeme Smith not 6 miles away as the crow flies recorded one on the same night in his garden in Bishop's Stortford! 
Anarsia lineatella is a fairly recent colonist from warmer shores, these could be spreading from their stronghold in Essex or may be primary immigrants.
Care should be taken though as there is another Gelechid that looks very similar, Gelechia senticetella.

Other moths of note were my first Herts record of Cream-bordered Green-pea a Ruddy Carpet and Waved Black.
There were also stunning forms of Cloaked Minor and Riband Wave.

Two moths are still outstanding for identification.
The list stands at 163 species in total minus the two unidentified species.

Catch Report - 07/07/16 - Famland - Braughing Friars - 2x 125w MV Robinson Trap 1x 160w MBT Robinson Trap & 1x 40w Actinic/26w BLB Trap

Macro Moths - 78 Species

Barred Straw 10
Barred Yellow 2
Blood-vein 2
Blue-bordered Carpet 2
Bright-line Brown-eye 2
Brimstone Moth 2
Brown Rustic 1
Brown-line Bright-eye 5
Buff Arches 2
Burnished Brass 2
Cinnabar 4
Clay 8
Cloaked Minor 4
Clouded Border 4
Clouded Silver 12
Common Emerald 3
Common Footman 10
Common Rustic 2
Common Wainscot 3
Cream-bordered Green-pea
Dark Arches 14
Dot Moth 5
Double Square-spot 6
Dwarf Cream Wave 2
Eyed Hawk-moth 1
Fan-foot 2
Figure of Eighty 1
Flame 4
Flame Shoulder 2
Foxglove Pug 1
Ghost Moth 1
Green Pug 2
Green Silver-lines 1
Grey Dagger 1
Heart & Club 7
Heart & Dart 10
July Highflyer 1
Large Twin-spot Carpet 5
Large Yellow Underwing 10
Least Carpet 1
Light Emerald 2
Marbled Minor 3
Mottled Beauty 3
Mottled Pug 1
Mottled Rustic 8
Orange Footman 1
Pale Prominent 1
Poplar Hawk-moth 1
Privet Hawk-moth 3
Riband Wave 
Ruddy Carpet
Rustic 6
Scalloped Oak 1
Scarce Footman 3
Scorched Carpet 1
Scorched Wing 1
Setaceous Hebrew Character 5
Shoulder-striped Wainscot 1
Silver-Y 2
Single-dotted Wave 1
Small Blood-vein 1
Small Fan-foot 2
Small Fan-footed Wave 1
Small Yellow Wave 1
Smoky Wainscot 3
Snout 4
Spectacle 2
Straw Dot 1
Swallow-tailed Moth 2
Tawny Marbled Minor 1
Turnip Moth 1
Uncertain 10
V-Pug 2
Waved Black 1
Willow Beauty 3
Wood Carpet 1
Wormwood Pug 2
Yellow Shell 5

Micro Moths - 85 Species

Acentria ephemerella 10
Acleris schalleriana 1
Aethes rubigana 2
Aethes tesserana 1
Agapeta hamana 10+
Aleimma loeflingiana 1
Anania crocealis 1
Anania hortulata 2
Anania perlucidalis 1
Anarsia lineatella 1 [NEW!]
Aphelia paleana 1
Aphomia sociella 2
Archips podana 2
Archips xylosteana 2
Argyresthia albistria 1
Argyresthia goedartella 2
Blastobasis lacticolella 2
Blastodacna hellerella 1
Brachmia blandella 2
Bryotropha senectella 2
Bryotropha terrella 5
Calamotropha paludella 1
Carpatolechia fugitivella pos 1
Catoptria falsella 4
Catoptria pinella 5
Celypha lacunana 8
Celypha striana 2
Chrysoteuchia culmella 10+
Clepsis consimilana 2
Cnephasia sp 5
Cochylis hybridella 10
Cochylis molliculana 1
Coleophora mayrella
Coleophora sp (White)
Crambus lathoniellus 4
Crambus perlella 1
Crassa unitella 4
Cydia fagiglandana 1
Ditula angustiorana 1
Elophila nymphaeata 1
Endothenia gentianaena 1
Ephestia sp 3
Epiblema foenella 3
Epiphyas postvittana 1
Eucosma cana 20+
Eucosma obumbratana 1
Eudonia lacustrata 15+
Eudonia mercurella 1
Eudonia pallida 4
Eulamprotes atrella 1
Galleria mellonella 1
Gypsonoma dealbana 2
Hedya nubiferana 2
Hedya pruniana 2
Hedya salicella 1
Helcyostogramma rufescens 1
Hofmannophila pseudospretella 3
Homoeosoma sinuella 2
Hypsopygia glaucinalis 1
Lobesia abscisana 1 
Metzneria metzneriella 1
Mompha ochraceella 20+
Monochroa palustrellus 1
Myelois circumvoluta 6
Notocelia uddmanniana 1
Pandemis cerasana 2
Pandemis corylana 1
Paraswammerdamia nebulella 1
Phycita roborella 3
Phycitodes binaevella 2
Piniphila bifasciana 2
Pleuroptya ruralis 1
Plutella xylostella 2
Prays frraxinella 2
Pseudargyrotoza conwagana 2
Pterophorus pentadactyla 15
Scoaparia basistrigalis 1
Scoparia ambigualis 4
Scoparia pyralella 2
Scoparia subfusca 14
Spatalistis bifasciana 1
Spilonota ocellana 1
Tortrix viridana 2
Udea olivalis 2
Udea prunalis 1


Anarsia lineatella












Cream-bordered Green-pea











Ruddy Carpet













Endothenia gentianaena










Epiblema foenella










Cloaked Minor











Bryotropha senectella











Scoparia basistrigalis

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