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

Wednesday 7 August 2024

The last post before a week off

This was the last catch for me, from July this year.

It was a very good catch under warm conditions, with highs of 28 degrees and lows of 19c the moth trap was rather busy.

Many species were new for the year, 2 were new for the garden!

Before lights on, an absolutely mint Dusky Clearwing came to the TAB lure after 5pm, only the 3rd this year, well down on last years 12.

I had seen many Agapeta hamana in the garden this year, but none of the sister zoegana, I got one on this night, but it was the dark orange form that I rarely see, nice.

11 new species for the year was very good for the end of July.
The two new species for the garden were a distinctly marked Golden-rod Pug, a scarce moth in the east. Even scarcer was a Gelechia scotinella, a moth i've taken locally at Chippenham Fen.

A tiny Stigmella species was retained for further inspection.

The garden certainly went out with a bang before my departure further south.

 
Moth garden list for 2024 stands at 535 species
 
29/07/24 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Copper Underwing 1 [NFY]
Flounced Rustic 1 [NFY]
Golden-rod Pug 1 [NFG]
Least Yellow Underwing 1 [NFY]
Tree-lichen Beauty 2 [NFY]

Micro Moths

Agapeta zoegana 1 [NFY]
Bucculatrix albedinella 1 [NFY]
Caloptilia stigmatella 1 [NFY]
Cataclysta lemnata 1 [NFY]
Clavigesta purdeyi 1 [NFY]
Gelechia scotinella 1 [NFG]

Tree-lichen Beauty

Agapeta zoegana

Aspilapteryx tringipennella

Bucculatrix albedinella

Cataclysta lemnata

Clavigesta purdeyi

Copper Underwing

Dusky Clearwing

Flounced Rustic

Gelechia scotinella

Golden-rod Pug

Least Yellow Underwing

Stigmella sp

 

Posted by Bennyboymothman at 20:40

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