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

Friday, 17 March 2023

And we're off! 30 moths to the trap, more than January & February combined!

30 moths of 13 species last night, more moths than I saw in the whole of the two first months of the year (29 in total).
It's amazing that one perfect night weather-wise can be the real deal breaker.
 
Yesterday we had highs of 14 degrees, and this morning at around 5am the minimum was still a pleasant 10 degrees.
Coupled with light winds, no moon and full cloud cover it had to all come together surely.
We had light rain early evening, and that sometimes does hamper early fliers, particularly in the summer, but this wasn't the case for last night.
 
And I finally got a Chestnut, wahaaaay! 
 
5 new species for the year were recorded, and a sixth was completely new for the garden list! 
 
Acleris kochiella is an over-wintering tortrix moth that I have never caught in any gardens that i've trapped in, for me it's always been a woodland moth, so very pleased an example was spotted sitting on our side gate.
 
It is the 685th species for the garden and the 2nd new moth this year. 
 
Moth garden list for 2023 stands at 26 species

16/03/23 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Chestnut 1 [NFY]
Hebrew Character 3 [NFY] 
Oak Beauty 1 [NFY]
Small Quaker 2 [NFY]
Clouded Drab 1
Common Quaker 7
Dotted Border 1
March Moth 5

Micro Moths

Acleris kochiella 1 [NFG]
Eudonia angustea 1 [NFY]
Agonopterix alstromeriana 3
Agonopterix heracliana 1
Emmelina monodactyla 3

Acleris kochiella

Chestnut

Clouded Drab

Eudonia angustea

Hebrew Character

Oak Beauty

Small Quaker


Posted by Bennyboymothman at 21:35

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