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, 10 June 2024

Looking for the summer...

As the popular Chris Rea song goes, we certainly are 'looking for the summer' currently.
 
What on earth is happening! A mildish night last night, but it must have rained for half of it, and made the trapping area rather soggy indeed. 
The rain doesn't deter the moths though, and a good number of species (by recent standards) turned up, albeit in pitiful numbers for the 2nd week of June.
 
At least there were 4 new ones to add to the year list (possibly 5 with 1 of 2 similar Cnephasia species retained, which are probably asseclana). 
Best moths of the night was a rather nicely coloured Rhodophaea formosa, and one of my earliest Least Carpets.
Still not good enough for a field trip yet..

Moth garden list for 2024 stands at 286 species
 
09/06/24 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Least Carpet 1 [NFY]
Buff Ermine 1
Common Swift 1
Dark Arches 2
Flame Shoulder 1
Heart & Club 1
Heart & Dart 1
Knot Grass 1
Large Nutmeg 2
Large Yellow Underwing 1
Marbled Minor 1
Nutmeg 1
Shark 2
Shears 2
Shuttle-shaped Dart 2
Snout 1
Swallow Prominent 2
Turnip Moth 2
White-point 1
Willow Beauty 2

Micro Moths

Eudonia mercurella 1 [NFY]
Rhodophaea formosa 1 [NFY]
Scoparia ambigualis 1 [NFY]

Aphomia sociella 1
Celypha striana 1
Cnephasia sp 2
Crambus lathoniellus 1
Hofmannophila pseudospretella 1

Cnephasia sp pos asseclana

Cnephasia sp pos asseclana

Eudonia mercurella

Knot Grass

Least Carpet

Rhodophaea formosa

Scoparia ambigualis

 

No comments:

Post a Comment