Yorkshire Status: Scarce and local resident.

Many people tell us they don't like Pugs, but how could you not like this beautiful creature. At last, a Pug that is readily identifiable. The downside is that it's a rather scarce beast. Its food plant, bladder campion, seems to be in decline, probably because of too much "tidying up" of the countryside. It must have been commoner in Porritt's day as he listed several sites and noted it was "not uncommon" near its foodplant. We were rather worried about this species as from 2017 to 2020 there were no records at all in the county. In 2023 however it is very encouraging to report we had records from four VCs. Like many Pugs, it is most easily found by dusking around its food plant a little after sunset. The Atlas tells us that nationally it has "undergone a severe distribution decline".

Sutton & Beaumont, 1989: The overall distribution of this species has changed very little in the past twenty years, however there has been no further VC65 record. It has been found regularly in a Leeds (VC64) suburb where bladder campion was grown from seed as a garden flower (GB pers. comm.).

Recorded in 52 (26%) of 200 10k Squares. First Recorded in 1883. Last Recorded in 2023. Additional Stats

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