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, 29 July 2024

Monday night mothing, what a night!

After a day at the garage and out for lunch, it was back home and the trap was switched on at 9:30pm.

It had been a warm and muggy day with light drizzle and max temperatures of around 24 degrees. By night it didn't drop below 16 degrees and subsequently the moth trap was fairly busy, especially for new species for the year.

During the day, a Raspberry Clearwing was attracted to the TAB lure, clearly not fussy (I've since had one to the right target lure this time). 

It was an incredible night, with over 70 species recorded, 17 of them new for the year, and 3 completely new for the garden. It was probably to be the last big catch here in my garden for 2024, as catches subside now to 30 odd species per night.

Loads of highlights including my earliest Scarce Bordered Straw, the funky little Stathmopoda pedella and the 4th species of Dioryctria to be recorded in my garden, Dioryctria sylvestrella.

I also retained an unusual Coleophora, and an aberrant Common Carpet was nice also.

Just the new for years listed below.

 
Moth garden list for 2024 stands at 520 species
 
22/07/24 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths 

Black Arches 1 [NFY]
Coxcomb Prominent 1 [NFY]
Dusky Thorn 1 [NFY]
Hoary Footman 1 [NFY]
Jersey Tiger 1 [NFY]
Mouse Moth 1 [NFY]
Raspberry Clearwing 1 [NFY] (To TAB Lure)
Rosy Minor 1 [NFY]
Scarce Bordered Straw 1 [NFY]
Shaded Broad-bar 1 [NFY]

Micro Moths 

Argyresthia goedartella 1 [NFY]
Dioryctria sylvestrella 1 [NFG]
Enarmonia formosana 1 [NFY]
Epiblema cirsiana/stictiana 1 [NFG]
Sciota adelphella 1 [NFY]
Scrobipalpa atriplicella 1 [NFY]
Stathmopoda pedella 1 [NFG]
Coleophora sp 1 [TBC]

Stathmopoda pedella

Argyresthia goedartella

Black Arches

Coleophora sp

Common Carpet aberration

Coxcomb Prominent

Dioryctria sylvestrella

Dusky Thorn

Enarmonia formosana

Epiblema cirsiana/stictiana

Hoary Footman

Jersey Tiger

Mouse Moth

Raspberry Clearwing

Rosy Minor

Scarce Bordered Straw

Sciota adelphella

Scrobipalpa atriplicella

 

Posted by Bennyboymothman at 19:59

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