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

Thursday, 6 June 2024

Steady but some interest still

Quiet now, but a few nice moths were attracted to my actinic trap on Monday night. 

There was just 1 new macro for the year, but it was a beauty of a Beautiful Hook-tip which posed nicely on a patio slab.
Micros were in short supply as it was a cold night (By June's standards) and down to 8 degrees.

There were 3 new micros though which was very pleasing, given the awful conditions.
They were, a faded Tortrix viridana, the unusual looking Blastodacna hellerella & a rather smart yellow-striped Oegoconia species.

One macro moth did catch my eye, a very small Noctuid that I intially mistook for an early Heart & Club.
It was not to be, and turns out after getting a look at it in good light, that it's a Turnip Moth! a right old runt with a lovely gingery head and mottled markings. I do love these smart forms of common moths.

Still waiting on a perfect 'stars-aligned' night...

Moth garden list for 2024 stands at 272 species
 
03/06/24 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Beautiful Hook-tip 1 [NFY]
Buff-tip 1
Clouded Silver 2
Common Swift 5
Coronet 1
Dark Arches 2
Elephant Hawk-moth 1
Garden Carpet 1
Green Pug 1
Heart & Dart 1
Large Nutmeg 3
Large Yellow Underwing 4
Light Brocade 2
Lime Hawk-moth 1
Marbled Minor 5
Mottled Rustic 1
Pale Mottled Willow 1
Pale Oak Beauty 1
Peppered Moth 2
Setaceous Hebrew Character 1
Silver Y 1
Snout 2
Straw Dot 1
Swallow Prominent 1
Turnip Moth 3
Willow Beauty 7

Micro Moths

Blastodacna hellerella 1 [NFY]
Oegoconia sp 1 [NFY]
Tortrix viridana 1 [NFY]
Epiphyas postvittana 3
Parapoynx stratiotata 1
Platyedra subcinerea 1

Beautiful Hook-tip

Blastodacna hellerella

Oegoconia sp


Turnip Moth

Tortrix viridana

 

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