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

Friday 15 May 2015

A rare moth rediscovered...181 years later!

We did another field trip this week to Hexton Chalk Pit on Wednesday night.
The evening was bright and sunny, a beautiful sight...but not a good sign for mothing. The temperature just plummeted and although as I got into my car at 12:15am it still said 8 degrees, it felt a lot cooler with a stiff breeze kicking up intermittently.
It wasn't a great night species and numbers wise, but it only takes one moth to make it all worthwhile!
That moth was an Anania fuscalis that I netted after previously netting countless Green Carpets, I could not believe it when I saw that it was a Pyralid.
This moth is practically unheard of in the County and this being the second record after 181 years!
It's certainly a good moth for Herts. However quoted from Andy King 'Up to 2012, Bucks (VC24) records had registered 102 records of it, involving 599 individuals!'

I have trapped these before in Hockley Woods near Rayleigh last year on the 3rd of July, my first encounter with them.


Catch Report -  13/05/15 - Hexton Chalk Pit - 2x 125w MV Robinson Trap 1x 160w MBT Robinson Trap & 1x 80w Actinic + 26w CFL Suitcase Trap


Macro Moths

1x Angle Shades
2x Brimstone Moth
2x Common White Wave
1x Coxcomb Prominent
4x Flame Shoulder
20+ Green Carpet
1x Grey Pug
1x Knot Grass
4x Light Brocade
1x Nut-tree Tussock
1x Orange Footman
1x Pale Tussock
5x Pebble Prominent
1x Powdered Quaker
1x Purple Bar
2x Red Twin-spot Carpet
1x Red-green Carpet
1x Shears
1x Shuttle-shaped Dart
4x Small Waved Umber
2x Waved Umber
3x White Ermine

Micro Moths
 
1x Anania fuscalis
1x Cochylimorpha straminea
3x Elachista argentella
1x Scoparia ambigualis
1x Cochylis dubitana
1x Nematopogon schwarziellus
1x Scrobipalpa acuminatella
Anania fuscalis












Scoparia ambigualis













Cochylis dubitana











Coxcomb Prominent












Cochylimorpha straminea











Scrobipalpa acuminatella












Nematopogon schwarziellus

Posted by Bennyboymothman at 07:25

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