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

Wednesday, 10 June 2020

Milder, calmer, the moths respond!

A super catch last night here in my garden.

With dominant cloud cover and a muggy feel to the evening, I set the 250w bulb up on top of the larger of the two Robinson bases, and crammed it with as many egg trays as possible. 
At the bottom and expecting early morning rain, I popped two washing up songes at the base, which helps to soak up and drips that get past the rainshield.
Well I missed the rain, because I was up so early (4am!).

There were some quality moths to be found in and around the trap, Scarce Silver-lines (3rd garden record), Archips crataegana (2nd garden record), and two beautiful Blotched Emeralds were pick of the litter.

What's more, I got both similar species of Archips (crataegana & xylosteana) to compare with one another, these can be tricky in the half-light at 4am through bleary eyes.

9 new species were added to the running total.


Garden species count for 2020 now upto 229.


250w Clear MV Robinson Trap min 13c at 4:00am

Only New For Year Species Reported

Catch Report - 09/06/20 - Back Garden - Stevenage - North Herts

Macro Moths


Barred Straw 1 [NFY]
Blotched Emerald 2 [NFY]
Clouded Silver 1 [NFY]
Light Arches 1 [NFY]
Scarce Silver-lines 1 [NFY]

Micro Moths


Archips crataegana 1 [NFY]
Archips xylosteana 1 [NFY]
Phycita roborella 1 [NFY]
Teleiodes vulgella 1 [NFY]

Archips crataegana (left) & Archips xylosteana (right)

Barred Straw

Blotched Emerald

Clouded Silver

Light Arches

Phycita roborella

Scarce Silver-lines

Teleiodes vulgella

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