Yorkshire Status: Very rare migrant

This species is resident in northern Scotland; elsewhere it is a sporadic migrant. An account of the first occurrence in Yorkshire is in The Naturalist 1895 p80 written by George Porritt: "Fidonia pinetaria at Scarborough - Mr Reginald H Barker of Scarborough recently sent me for examination a specimen of Fidonia pinetaria which he took last year in Raincliffe Wood, near that town. This is a very good and interesting addition to the list of Yorkshire Lepidoptera". It was not heard of again until for almost 100 years until one turned up in the Rothamsted trap at Pannal near Harrogate on 13/6/1992. This species can occur in influxes at times, and between 2008 and 2011 many arrived in the south of England, culminating in a mass arrival of over 1400 moths in 2011. These arrivals apparently coincided with population explosions of the moth on the continent but not a single moth arrived in Yorkshire at that time.

In 2023 Yorkshire got its revenge. A major influx in June started on the coast on the 11th and rapidly spread inland, and over a period of 12 days, we received 27 records of 31 moths from 21 sites across central, southern, and coastal areas. Moths were recorded in all five Vice-counties. It was a quite astonishing event. Winds were from the north-east at the time and it is likely that our moths originated in Scandinavia.

	Retained Specimen / Photograph will be Required.

Recorded in 20 (10%) of 200 10k Squares. First Recorded in 1894. Last Recorded in 2023. Additional Stats

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