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, 1 October 2020

Quiet with the MV, but a switch to Actinic does the business

The last 3 outings with my trap here in Stevenage have yielded 8, 12 and 12 respectively... not species, moths!
It has been the worst September for sheer numbers of moths since moving here in 2012.

But, quality over quantity last night with a switch from 125 watts of Mercury to a combined 70 watts of Actinic and Synergetic power.
It was rather wet last night, but rain never seems to put moths off, its the cold wind combined that always does it. Luckily last night was very calm.

Pick was of course the Merveille du Jour, easily in the top 5 most beautiful moths in the UK.

A rather orange/pinky flushed Emmelina monodactyla was a nice colour variation and made a change from the usual paler examples.

Below is last night's catch

Garden species count for 2020 now upto 482.

Catch Reports - Back Garden - Stevenage - North Herts

30/09/20 - 40w Actinic & 15w Actinic/15w Synergetic combo

Macro Moths

Blair's Shoulder-knot 1 [NFY]
Merveille du Jour 1 [NFY]
Sallow 1 [NFY]
Barred Sallow 1
Chestnut 2 [Season first]
Lunar Underwing 1

Micro Moths

Acleris schalleriana 1
Cydalima perspectalis 1
Emmelina monodactyla 1
Epiphyas postvittana 2

40w Actinic & 15w Actinic/15w Synergetic Trap

Acleris schalleriana

Blair's Shoulder-knot

Chestnut

Emmelina monodactyla

Merveiile du Jour

Sallow


Posted by Bennyboymothman at 20:54

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