Yorkshire Status: Very rare and very local resident.

This is a moth of wet moorland - the sort which hasn't been "improved" for grouse shooting. The larvae feed on bilberry and cowberry. The comments from Sutton and Beaumont in 1989 below are interesting, particularly the observation that it occurs in Teesdale, in fact an old record from the Yorkshire side of the Tees resurfaced though the date "1930 to 1981" is not a lot of use. It was rediscovered nearby in 2022. There have been no further records from the south of VC63, however it is now evident that this moth is resident in good numbers on the Lancashire/Yorkshire border in the extreme west of VC64 where there have been a number of records since the 1990s of day-flying moths. In addition to this, there have been two extremely odd records which we can't really explain. One turned up in a trap at Haxby in 2005, well out of area, and one was trapped near Middlesborough in 2006. It is not the sort of species that is labelled a "wanderer".

Sutton & Beaumont, 1989: Not recorded since Porritt (1883-86). The only locality Porritt mentioned was Thorne Moors (VC63) in 1877. However, there are twelve specimens from Eccleshall Wood, Sheffield in the Sheldon collection (Garland, 1979). It is surprising that this species does not occur in Yorkshire, since we have several apparently suitable sites and it is within the distribution mentioned by Skinner (1984). The species occurs quite widely to the north of Yorkshire, the closest site being just to the north-east of the High Force in Teesdale (Dunn & Parrack, 1986).

Recorded in 10 (5%) of 200 10k Squares. First Recorded in 1883. Last Recorded in 2022. Additional Stats

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