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

Monday 2 May 2022

Chippenham Fen - Field Trip - 30/04/22

I made a third trip to Chippenham Fen and I was joined by fellow Fordham resident, Leslie Gardiner.

It had been a nice warm day and clouded over as predicted, so it looked like it was going to be really good, and it wasn't bad at all.
Though the pessimist in me would have liked to have not had the cool breeze that was oddly coming from the south, and actually increased as the session went on.
Most moths were represented as 1's and 2's but the variety was great.

We ran 4 traps up until about midnight, and started to pack them away.

Highlights included 2 Emperor Moths, a melanic Pale Tussock (Which is extremely contradictory) and an amazing pair of Puss Moths, with the Female being gigantic! She's even laid eggs for me so I will hopefully breed them through.
It was a real experience to hold the big female and feel the draught on my hand of her beating wings.
 
Thank you to Leslie for helping me set-up.
 
Below is our list for the night.


30/04/22 - Chippenham Fen - East Cambridgeshire - 4 traps, 125w Mercury Robinson Trap, 250w Clear Mercury Robinson Trap, 160w MBT Trap and Actinic Trap


Macro Moths

Brimstone 1
Brindled Beauty 1
Chinese Character 2
Clouded Drab 3
Common Carpet 1
Common Pug 2
Common White Wave 1
Common Quaker 2
Coronet 1
Coxcomb Prominent 1
Double-striped Pug 5
Dwarf Pug 1
Emperor Moth 2
Flame Shoulder 4
Green Carpet 2
Hebrew Character 2
Knot Grass 1
Latticed Heath 1
Least Black Arches 2
Nut-tree Tussock 5
Orange Footman 1
Pale Prominent 1
Pale Tussock 1
Pebble Prominent 1
Puss Moth 2
Red Chestnut 1
Red Twin-spot Carpet 10
Red-green Carpet 1
Shuttle-shaped Dart 2
Streamer 1
Swallow Prominent 1
Yellow-barred Brindle 2
Water Carpet 1
Waved Umber 1

Micro Moths
 
Cochylis atricapitana 1
Elachista sp 2 [TBC]
Elachista cannapennella 1
Endrosis sarcitrella 1
Epinotia immundana 5
Nematopogon swammerdamella 1
Phyllonorycter sp 1
Scrobipalpa costella 1
Scrobipalpa ocellatella 2
Syndemis musculana 1

Cochylis atricapitana

Coronet

Dwarf Pug

Nematopogon swammerdamella

Pale Tussock

Puss Moth Female

Puss Moths

Syndemis musculana


Posted by Bennyboymothman at 21:03

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