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, 24 May 2020

I couldn't believe my eyes...

Last minute, and before I left home for Thursday's field trip I thought I might as well rummage a trap together as it was going to be a warm night (and with all of my 5 traps out with me) I managed to find an old Heath trap with an inverted lampshade and a few egg trays, and popped a 20w Wemlite over the top of it.
When I returned from my trip out, completely frazzled and ready for bed, I thought I would just have a peek at what the little light had attracted, the usual fare to start with, a few nice new for year species and then a Teleiopsis diffinis (A species I had already potted up on our trip out earlier) a new garden moth!
A mint Shoulder-striped Wainscot was also spotted as it flew in, unbelievably this is another garden first, 8 years its taken me to add this semmingly common? moth to my garden list.

 and then I turned round and spotted a Caloptilia, and then I looked again and couldn't quite believe my eyes... I potted it up and rushed inside to get my hand lens.

 Under the hand lens and in more natural light it appeared to be Caloptilia honoratella, and after a bit of research could be a 4th for Britain (pending dissection hopefully on Monday) and new to Herts.

 There are other possibilities of course, hemidactylella & falconipennella, both of them would be new for garden if that was the case.
We shall see!

Garden species count for 2020 now upto 170, with 1 species pending

35 moths of 18 species to 20w Wemlite Battered Heath Trap min 17c at 4:00am 

Catch Report - 21/05/20 - Back Garden - Stevenage - North Herts   

Macro Moths

Freyer's Pug 2 [NFY]
Light Emerald 2 [NFY]
Oak Hook-tip 1 [NFY]
Shoulder-striped Wainscot 1 [NFG]
Common Marbled Carpet 1
Common Wainscot 4
Treble Lines 2
Heart & Dart 6
Large Nutmeg 2
Rustic Shoulder-knot 4
Shuttle-shaped Dart 2
Vine's Rustic 1

Micro Moths

Caloptilia sp 1 [TBC]
Crambus lathoniellus 1 [NFY]
Phtheochroa rugosana 1 [NFY]
Teleiopsis diffinis 1 [NFG]
Argyresthia trifasciata 1
Epiphyas postvittana 2

Caloptilia sp - TBC

Crambus lathoniellus

Freyer's Pug

Light Emerald

Oak Hook-tip

Phtheochroa rugosana

Shoulder-striped Wainscot

Teleiopsis diffinis


Posted by Bennyboymothman at 14:29

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