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 3 July 2015

Another trip to the farm

Hello everyone.
I decided to arrange another field trip to my parents farm at Braughing Friars and what a day we picked for it! The day had been hot and sultry and with highs of around 35 degrees!! summer seemed to have certainly peaked and a new highest temperature had been recorded of 36.5c, the highest for 11 years.
As the evening neared the weather was still a muggy 28 degrees at aroung 8pm and although the sky was clear we did have some patchy cloud at times and apart from the full moon the evening couldn't ger any better.
High winds were an issue during the day but luckily by dusk the wind had dropped right down.

I was joined by Colin, Roger and Paul and we ran 6 traps and one sheet that we would attend through the course of the evening/
The moths were fast coming to the lights, it seemed that as soon as the switches were flicked on moths had known what was going on.
It seemed a slow start, espcially for the Macros which seemed to suffer initially and it certainly was a night for the Micro moth recorder as we were simply inundated by them, feverishly wielding pots to try and capture the prize specimens.
The there was the Crane-flies and Beetles, my god I have never seen so many Ground Beetles before in one area, they were swarming all over us more so than the moths!
Th guys left at about 1am and I decided to leave my 4 traps running until dawn, topped the genny up and got some much needed kip for a few hours then up at 4am ready to see what else had turned up.
There was plenty and a lot more species were added.

Best moths of the night were a huge influx of 9 Red-necked Footman, and 3 new moths for my all-time list  Aethes beatricella, Aethes tesserana and Carpatolechia fugitivella.


Numbers below are approximate. 


Catch Report -  01/07/15 - Braughing Farmland - 2x 125w MV Robinson Trap 1x 160w MBT Robinson Trap & 1x 80w Actinic + 26w CFL Suitcase Trap

205 Species  111 Macros and 94 Micros


Macro Moths

4x Barred Straw
2x Barred Yellow
1x Beautiful Golden-Y  
5x Blood-vein
3x Blotched Emerald
2x Blue-bordered Carpet
1x Bordered White
1x Bright-line Brown-eye
5x Brimstone Moth
 
2x Brown Rustic
1x Buff Arches  
2x Buff Ermine  
1x Buff Footman  
3x Burnished Brass  
2x Buttoned Snout  
1x Cabbage Moth  
10+ Cinnabar
8+ Clay
2x Cloaked Minor  
6x Clouded Border  
10+ Clouded Silver  
1x Common Carpet
2x Common Emerald  
10x Common Footman  
4x Common Marbled Carpet  
2x Common Pug    
3x Common Swift  
4x Common Wainscot
1x Common Wave    
3x Common White Wave
5x Dark Arches

2x Dot Moth
5x Double Square-spot
2x Drinker
1x Dusky Brocade
5x Dwarf Cream Wave
3x Elephant Hawk-moth  
2x Fan-foot  
4x Fern   
3x Figure of Eighty  
5x Flame
2x Flame Shoulder
 
1x Garden Carpet  
2x Ghost Moth
8x Green Pug  
5x Green Silver-lines  
1x Grey Pug
1x Haworth's Pug
6x Heart & Club
10x Heart & Dart
 
5x Ingrailed Clay
1x July Highflyer  
12x Large Nutmeg
2x Large Twin-spot Carpet  
5x Large Yellow Underwing  
1x Least Carpet
1x Leopard Moth
2x Lesser Yellow Underwing
2x Light Arches      
5x Light Emerald
2x Lime Hawk-moth
1x Maiden's Blush
1x Maple Prominent  
10x Marbled Minor  
2x Middle-barred Minor  
4x Mottled Beauty  
2x Mottled Pug  
5x Mottled Rustic  
1x Orange Footman  
1x Peppered Moth
1x Poplar Grey  
2x Poplar Hawk-moth  
5x Privet Hawk-moth
9x Red-necked Footman
5x Riband Wave
1x Rosy Footman
1x Ruby Tiger
1x Rufous Minor
2x Rustic
4x Rustic Shoulder-knot  
1x Scarce Footman  
1x Scorched Carpet   
5x Scorched Wing    
6x Setaceous Hebrew Character
1x Shears  
1x Silver Y  
2x Silver-ground Carpet
1x Single-dotted Wave
2x Small Blood-vein  
2x Small Dusty Wave
2x Small Fan-foot
3x Small Fan-footed Wave  
1x Small Mottled Willow  
1x Small Square-spot  
1x Small Waved Umber
8x Small Yellow Wave
10x Smoky Wainscot  
20x Snout  
2x Spectacle  
2x Straw Dot
1x Swallow-tailed Moth 
2x Tawny Marbled Minor 
5x Treble Brown Spot
1x Treble Lines
1x Turnip Moth
1x Twin-spot Carpet   
10x Uncertain
1x Vapourer Moth  
1x Vine's Rustic
1x Waved Black  
3x Yellow Shell


Micro Moths

1x Aethes beatricella [NEW!]
1x Aethes tesserana [NEW!]
1x Carpatolechia fugitivella [NEW!]
1x Argyresthia albistria
2x Argyresthia spinosella
1x Yponomeuta evonymella
1x Pammene aurana
1x Donacaula forficella 
6x Ancylis achatana
4x Hypsopygia glaucinalis
10+ Scoparia ambigualis
20+ Anania hortulata
15x Plutella xylostella
50+ Chrysoteuchia culmella
2x Endrosis sarcitrella
20+ Celypha lacunana
25+ Batia unitella
8x Crambus perlella
30+ Eucosma cana
1x Eucosma obumbratana
5x Archips xylosteana
5x Hofmannophila pseudospretella
5x Archips podana
8+ Celypha striana
100+ Eudonia lacustrata
2x Hedya salicella
2x Clepsis consimilana
5x Udea olivalis
30+ Pterophorus pentadactyla
10+ Catoptria falsella
5x Catoptria pinella
10x Agapeta hamana
1x Agapeta zoegana
4x Mompha ochraceella
3x Pandemis heparana
10x Pandemis cerasana
1x Blastobasis lacticolella
3x Cnephasia sp
2x Epagoge grotiana
2x Limnaecia phragmitella
1x Grapholita janthinana
6x Myelois circumvoluta
15+ Aleimma loeflingiana
1x Emmelina monodactyla
3x Phycita roborella
1x Metzneria lappella
3x Metzneria metzneriella
2x Parapoynx stratiotata
5x Hedya pruniana
2x Hedya nubiferana
2x Anthophila fabriciana
8x Pseudargyrotoza conwagana
1x Homoeosoma sinuella
1x Ephestia sp
1x Acentria ephemerella
1x Phtheochroa inopiana
10+ Cochylis hybridella
2x Cochylis molliculana
2x Phycitodes binaevella sp
2x Gypsonoma dealbana
2x Tortrix viridana
1x Lozotaenia forsterana
1x Moraphaga choragella
6x Epiblema foenella
3x Coleophora sp (White)
1x Coleophora mayrella (Checked)
2x Coleophora alcyonipennella (Checked)
1x Brachmia blandella
2x Teleiodes luculella
3x Teleiodes vulgella
5x Ditula angustiorana
1x Mompha subbistrigella
1x Paraswammerdamia albicapitella
1x Mompha raschkiella
1x Blastodacna hellerella
1x Prays fraxinella
2x Spilonota ocellana
1x Notocelia uddmanniana 
1x Agonopterix arenella
4x Eudonia pallida
5x Celypha rosaceana
1x Cydia pomonella
2x Epinotia abbreviana
1x Isotrias rectifasciana
1x Cydia nigricana
1x Crambus lathoniellus
5x Anania perlucidalis
2x Marasmarcha lunaedactyla
1x Euzophera pinguis
1x Acleris hastiana
1x Nephopterix angustella
1x Enarmonia formosana
1x Endothenia gentianaeana
2x Syncopacma sp


Donacaula forficella











Twin-spot Carpet












Rufous Minor













Bordered White













Dwarf Cream Wave











Aethes tesserana











Aethes beatricella











Acleris hastiana











Marasmarcha lunaedactyla












Phtheochroa inopiana











Carpatolechia fugitivella

2 comments:

  1. Some haul ! I've never seen a D.C.Wave with such well defined dark markings

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks buddy, yep it's a strange one indeed!

    ReplyDelete