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, 21 March 2021

First species to a pheremone lure in my garden!

On Friday afternoon, and after talking with Tim Green about his success lately with the 'molesta' lure for Pammene giganteana, I was duly prompted to find my lure buckets, get them washed up with some warm soapy water, and de-frost said lure.

I popped the lure out in the bucket trap after work on Friday at around 4pm, and checked on it just before dark, nothing... to be honest, very much expected! 

Two things worry me about these lures, firstly do they work? secondly did they use to work, but don't now? and finally, is the moth species likely to be found in said location? The first two you can change (buy new lure for a target species, and find out what species come to each specific lure from other people's experiences) the last, well that's the exciting part, you just don't know what is out there, I did have a feeling that the large Oak trees at the bottom of the garden may harbour this particular species, and a lot of the Spring flying Tortrix moths appear to not be quite as attracted to light as previously thought (In fact many species of Pammene and Cydia I have observed and netted in the early morning sunshine).

So you can imagine my delight when I checked my lure after dinner yesterday (20/03/21) to find a smart little dark tortrix sitting in the trap.

A closer inspection revealed that it was indeed Pammene giganteana and a second garden record (Having recorded it to light in my first Spring here in 2013).

Oddly, conditions did not seem ideal, just 7 degrees and a light cool wind and heavily over-cast.

If anyone else has a MOL lure and have Oak trees in the vicinity like I do, then what are you waiting for, get your lure out now!

In the trap this morning it was the usual fare of Spring Noctuids, highlight was a second record for the year of Dark Chestnut, never a common moth here.

Moth species for 2021 in the garden now stands at 23. 

 

Pammene giganteana

Dark Chestnut

A typical Spring catch here

Lure trap to the left in the boggy garden

Woah!




Posted by Bennyboymothman at 20:07

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