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

Thursday, 15 June 2017

Field Trip - Ashwell Quarry - 11/06/17


On Sunday night I did another field trip because of the warm weather... but still knackered from the previous night I did struggle a bit through the night as expected.
I arrived at 8pm, did a little netting and then relaxed for a bit before setting up five traps over the reserve.
All of the traps were sited out of the wind as this would hopefully make the moths easier to spot and encourage them to settle better.
The night actually started cloudy, quite contrary to the clear skies predicted (Not that I was in a position to moan, this meant the temperature would hold up better). The sky did finally clear and the wind increased with some big gusts and a temperature drop to 11 degrees by 2am meant that it was time to pack up.

Highlights for me were my first Hertfordshire records of Dark Spectacle and Telechrysis tripuncta, both quite uncommon moths in the County.
It was also nice to see Epinotia signatana, one of my favourite Epinotia's with the distinct black bar on the wing and some really fresh Geometer's, namely Common Emerald and Large Twin-spot Carpet.


Catch Report - 11/06/17 - Ashwell Quarry - North-west Herts - 5 traps in total - 2x 125w MV Robinson Trap 1x 160w MBT Robinson Trap 1x 40w Actinic + 15w LED Trap 1x 80w Actinic Trap

69 Macros & 40 Micros

109 species

Macro Moths


Barred Straw 3
Barred Yellow 3
Beautiful Hook-tip l
Blue-bordered Carpet l
Bright-line Brown-eye l
Brimstone 3
Brown Rustic l
Buff Ermine l
Burnished Brass l
Campion l
Cinnabar l
Clay l
Clouded Brindle l
Clouded Silver l
Common Carpet 3
Common Emerald l
Common Footman l
Common Marbled Carpet l
Common Pug l
Common Swift 7
Common Wainscot l
Dark Arches l
Dark Spectacle l
Double Square-spot l
Fern l
Flame 3
Flame Shoulder l
Green Carpet l
Green Pug l
Grey Dagger l
Grey Pug l
Haworth's Pug l
Heart & Dart l
Ingrailed Clay l
Large Nutmeg l
Large Twin-spot Carpet l
Large Yellow Underwing l
Light Arches l
Light Brocade l
Light Emerald l
Marbled Minor 10
Middle-barred Minor 2
Mottled Beauty 2
Mottled Rustic l
Orange Footman l
Pale Prominent l
Privet Hawk-moth l
Purple Bar l
Riband Wave l
Ruddy Carpet 2
Rustic Shoulder-knot l
Scorched Wing l
Setaceous Hebrew Character 3
Shaded Pug 2
Shoulder striped Wainscot l
Silver-ground Carpet l
Small fan-foot 2
Small Square-spot l
Small Waved umber l
Smoky Wainscot l
Snout 15
Spectacle 8
Straw Dot l
Tawny Marbled Minor l
Treble Brown Spot l
Turnip Moth l
Uncertain l
Willow Beauty 4
Wood Carpet l


Micro Moths

Anania hortulata l
Ancylis achatana l
Aphelia paleana l
Archips podana l
Blastobasis lacticolella l
Bryotropha terrella l
Bucculatrix bechsteinella l
Celypha lacunana8
Chrysoteuchia culmella 2
Clepsis consimilana 2
Cnephasia sp l
Cochylimorpha straminea 2
Cochylis atricapitana l
Coleophora sp l
Crambus lathoniellus l
Elachista apicipunctella 1
Epiblema costipunctana 1
Epinotia signatana 2
Epiphyas postvittana l
Eucosma cana l
Eudonia lacustrata l
Hedya nubiferana l
Hedya pruniana l
Hoffmanophila pseudospretella l
Luquetia lobella l
Monopis weaverella l
Nemapogon cloacella 2
Nephopterix angustella l
Notocelia trimaculana l
Notocelia uddmanniana l
Pandemis cerasana l
Paraswammerdamia albicapitella l
Phtheochroa sodaliana 2
Prays fraxinella l
Pseudargyrotoza conwagana l
Pterophorus pentadactyla 10
Scoparia ambigualis l
Scoparia pyralella l
Telechrysis tripuncta l
Udea olivalis l


Epinotia signatana











Ruddy Carpet












Common Emerald












Blue-bordered Carpet













Aphelia paleana











Ancylis achatana











Large Twin-spot Carpet












Telechrysis tripuncta












Dark Spectacle











Haworth's Pug

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