Yorkshire Status: Local but increasingly common resident.

This species was first recorded in London in 1831. A major range expansion to the north and west took place from the 1950s and in the Rothamsted data, the population increased by 41,000% between 1968 and 2002 making it the moth with the greatest population expansion. It was only a matter of time before one reached Yorkshire, and this duly happened in 2006. Expansion of range has been a bit of an on-and-off affair and 2022 was very much a year of consolidation, but in 2023 it underwent a dramatic expansion of range with records from many new 10K squares in the north of the county extending as far as upper Teesdale.

2020 (CHF): Least Carpet has had another good year. This illustrated a typical way that moths colonise the county. Many species have invaded us from the south east with very similar patterns to this. The typical scenario is illustrated well here:
1. First arrives in the county at Spurn (2006).
2. A gap of a few years then more records from Spurn and the occasional record further up the coast (2013).
3. Starts to appear every year at Spurn.
4. The first appearance in the south-east of VC63 (2017).
5. A period of major expansion, in this case with records up to the north of VC62, into the west of VC63 in Calderdale and into VC64 in Wharfedale (2019).
6. A period of contraction and consolidation, with filling in in VC61 (2020). This year it involved six different sites and four different 10K squares.
I would expect the next couple of years to show more consolidation in VC61 followed by a slower and steadier spread north and west. The only probable second brood example we have had was the Calderdale moth on 27.9.2019, but second broods are likely to become more common. This is of course all dependent upon weather patterns and may well be influenced by the presence or absence of its parasitoids which may well check the spread. Many other species have shown variations of this pattern including Vine's Rustic, Scarce Footman, Pine Hawk-moth, Dingy Footman and the recent wave of Coronet. There are one or two species which look as if they are going to do the same in years to come for example Tree-lichen Beauty and Toadflax Brocade.

Recorded in 36 (18%) of 200 10k Squares. First Recorded in 2006. Last Recorded in 2023. Additional Stats

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