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

Tuesday, 28 June 2022

Saturday night's moth catch

I've had two nights off here from moth recording, partly due to burn-out, and also due to the cooler night-time temperatures dipping to around 8 degrees on both Sunday night, and Monday night.
The trap will be back on tonight as the wind is set to drop and the cloud cover will hopefully remain, locking those temperatures in. 
Species blew me away once more with crackers such as Bordered Beauty, Yarrow Pug, Acleris forsskaleana, Lobesia abscisana & 2 bright Oegoconia species, to name but a few.
Around 50 species wre observed, 16 were new additions. 
 
A fairly good-sized Coleophora which is plain white, with no creamy-yellow tufts below the palps, could well be my first Coleophora betulella. Specimen retained.
Another Coleophora was much easier to identify, one of the metallic green species with it's distinct black & white ringed antennae, and thick antennal basal tufts, mayrella it was!
 
Triaxomasia caprimulgella was a good moth to get, I netted it at dusk. It is a rare species to light, but now comes to several Clearwing lures. (And at time of going to post, i've now netted a second better conditioned example this evening - 28/06/22).
 
The weather remains a bit meh to say the least, not warm, not cold, sunny and then dull and quite windy during the day, but dropping overnight.
But it's just so dry, too dry and the garden is suffering somewhat.

Only the new species were recorded once more, as I am struggling for time currently.


Moth garden list for 2022 stands at 433 species

25/06/22 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap
 
Macro Moths

Bordered Beauty 1 [NFG]
Maple Pug 1 [NFG]
Rustic 1 [NFG]
Scalloped Oak 1 [NFG]
Yarrow Pug 1 [NFG]

Micro Moths

Acleris forsskaleana 1 [NFG]
Borkhausenia fuscescens 1 [NFY]
Coleophora betulella sp 1 [NFG] (TBC)
Coleophora mayrella 1 [NFG]
Ectoedemia hannoverella/turbidella 1 [NFG] (TBC)
Endothenia gentianaeana/marginana 1 [NFG]
Lobesia abscisana 1 [NFG]
Oegoconia sp 2 [NFY]
Pammene regiana 1 [NFG]
Triaxomasia caprimulgella 1 [NFG]
Yponomeuta evonymella 1 [NFG]
 
Acleris forsskaleana

Bordered Beauty

Borkhausenia fuscescens

Coleophora betulella tbc

Coleophora mayrella

Ectoedemia hannoverella turbidella

Endothenia gentianaeana marginana

Lobesia abscisana

Maple Pug

Oegoconia sp

Pammene regiana

Triaxomasia caprimulgella

Yarrow Pug

 

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