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

Sunday 19 April 2020

Blown in on the breeze..a new garden moth!

I was very pleased this morning to find a tiny Elachista clinging to the outside of the Actinic box trap, I instantly recognised it from trapping it and sweeping it during the day, at nearby Bramfield Woods, a moth of damp woodland and riverbanks favouring 'Sedgy' areas.
To get Elachista rufocinerea in the garden completely away from suitable habitat was fantastic. It must have got blown in last night on the breeze.

It makes it the 731st species for my garden here in Stevenage, North Herts.

Again, it was cold this morning, 4.5c just isn't good for my garden.

Nevertheless 12 moths of 6 species turned up, mostly the usual early Spring species, amongst them though was a new for year Lunar Marbled Brown, a scarce moth for my garden and one I trap in big numbers (40+) in local woodland.

Garden species count for 2020 now upto 59.


12 moths of 9 species to 40w Actinic Trap

Catch Report - 18/04/20 - Back Garden - Stevenage - North Herts

Macro Moths


Lunar Marbled Brown 1 [NFY]
Brindled Pug 2
Common Quaker 1
Clouded Drab 1
Double-striped Pug 2
Hebrew Character 2

Streamer 1

Micro Moths

Elachista rufocinerea 1 [NFG]

Emmelina monodactlya 1

Double-striped Pug

Elachista rufocinerea

Lunar Marbled Brown

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