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

Saturday, 22 July 2023

National Moth Week starts and the weather say no

You would be hard pushed to believe it's July out there today, cool very wet and windy, in fact it's rained constantly since 9am this morning and has only just eased.
With high temperatures of an incredible 16 degrees, it's set to stay that temperature for most of the night under thick blankets of cloud.
I did run my trap last night, the results were quite disappointing with very little in the trap at 5am. A few new species were potted up.
 
But before I get ahead of myself (Which rarely happens this time of year) this post is about Thurday night's catch, a warmish day after spending it with my son, it rained a little but was fairly humid.

The results were quite good, with around 40 species present, some in good numbers, with Yponomeuta rorrella over 50, Least Carpet, 22.. Nutmeg, 14 and Cnephasia sp, 12. 

A super selection of new species for the year as well were potted up, and photographed on Friday after work.

The Mouse Moth was super fresh and really shiny which doesn't show up in my photo.

I also confirmed my first Svensson's Copper Underwing for the garden, a really dark specimen, with a the flush of copper extending broadly all the way to the abdomen. This is currently the only reliable way of seperation (bar dissection).

Still wet and miserable as I look out into the garden.


Moth garden list for 2023 stands at 521 species
 

20/07/23 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths
 
Campion 1 [NFY]
Mouse Moth 1 [NFY] 
Svensson's Copper Underwing 1 [NFG]
 
Micro Moths

Agriphila tristella 1 [NFY]
Pammene fasciana 1 [NFY] 

Acleris variegana

Agriphila tristella

Campion

Metalampra italica

Mouse Moth

Pammene fasciana

Purple Thorn

Svensson's Copper Underwing


 
Posted by Bennyboymothman at 21:02

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