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 23 July 2024

A very tidy mid-summer catch including 1 new moth for me and 2 new for garden species!

A big catch here for mid/late July on Friday night, with highs of 28 degrees, it was to be the warmest day of the year, and night with lows of 19 degrees.
Probably in excess of 70 species, but I wasn't in the right frame of mind to count anything.
 
Unfortunately I was terribly unwell, what started as a cold on Wednesday, turned into a full blown virus come Friday and it was a struggle going through the trap, I probably a missed a few, but 14 new ones were secured in pots and popped in the fridge ready to photograph when I could function.

Highlight undoubtedly went to a brand new macro moth for me, a Plumed Fan-foot... well what was left of it, such a terrible state it was. At least the snout and antennae were still present I guess.
I've been lucky to encounter this species abroad a couple of times in Croatia and Slovenia.

Two more good moths, Aproaerema larseniella/cinctella (inseperable visually) & the whopping great Coleophora conspicuella were both garden firsts.

Other favourites included the lovely black Dichomeris alacella, the two-tone Cydia splendana & finally a Lunar Yellow Underwing second brood (missing out on the first brood this year).
 
That lot made it to the big 500 species for the year, phew! 165 to go to beat my best year in 2022.

The weather continues to be nice and settled and warm and cloudy at night.
 
Moth garden list for 2024 stands at 500 species
 
19/07/24 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths 

Fen Wainscot 1 [NFY]
Lunar Yellow Underwing 1 [NFY]
Plumed Fan-foot 1 [NFG]
Small Rufous 1 [NFY]

Micro Moths 

Aproaerema larseniella/cinctella 1 [NFG]
Brachmia blandella 1 [NFY]
Carpatolechia fugitivella 1 [NFY]
Catoptria falsella 1 [NFY]
Chilo phragmitella 1 [NFY]
Coleophora conspicuella 1 [NFG]
Cydia splendana 1 [NFY]
Dichomeris alacella 1 [NFY]
Eudemis profundana 2 [NFY]
Metzneria metzneriella 1 [NFY]

Plumed Fan-foot

Aproaerema larseniella cinctella

Caloptilia honoratella

Chilo phragmitella

Coleophora conspicuella

Cydia splendana

Dichomeris alacella

Eudemis profundana

Lunar Yellow Underwing

Metzneria metzneriella

 

Posted by Bennyboymothman at 21:16

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