Yorkshire Status: Local resident.

This is very much an moth of upland moorland areas, the larvae feeding on heather and bilberry. Is is absent from our lowland heaths, and does not occur in the south and east of England. In 1883 Porritt regarded it as "rather common" and in 1907 remarked "fairly common on moorlands and probably throughout the county". I doubt one could be quite so optimistic nowadays, though our current obsession with light trapping means that moths like this, frequently encountered by day, are less often recorded. Although the majority of our records are of day-flying moths, it does also come to light in reasonably numbers. We have one remarkable record of 64 apparently attracted to light at Brimham Rocks on 5/7/2013. Good numbers have been recorded on Keighley Moor in recent years, mostly by day. Identification ought to be reasonably straightforward because of the habitat, but it is sometimes confused with Cream Wave and occasionally Lesser Cream Wave. The lack of a central dot on the wings together with straighter and less distinct cross lines are good pointers.

Sutton & Beaumont, 1989: The distribution of this moth has changed very little in the past twenty years and the comment made in the 1970 list (YNU, 1970), 'Although there are plenty of suitable locations for this very local insect, it has only been found in a few of them' is still true. It should be searched for on moors and mosses where bilberry occurs, the adults being easily disturbed during the day (Skinner, 1984).

Recorded in 56 (28%) of 200 10k Squares. First Recorded in 1880. Last Recorded in 2024. Additional Stats

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