Yorkshire Status: Local resident.

This species was discovered at Castle Eden Dene in Durham in 1831 by Captain Charles Blomer who (according to Peter Marren in Bugs Brittanica) was a soldier in Wellington's Peninsula army and a founder member of the Royal Entomological Society. He sent a specimen to John Curtis who painted it fluttering over the other Castle Eden Dene's other great attraction, the Lady's Slipper Orchid. Delving deeper into the capture, it appears that Blomer did not find the beast himself as he wrote "I procured it from the foreman belonging to Mr Miller the florist and seed man who captured it in their extensive gardens last summer". There is a wonderful account of Captain Blomer and his activities at More Info which sheds more light on all of this.

In 1883 Porritt was aware of it in Yorkshire. He called it "scarce and very local, feeds on wych elm". This is still true and it certainly seems to feed on wych elm and not on other elms. It does not seem to have suffered as much as some other elm-feeders from the ravages of Dutch elm disese. Most of the national population is in the south-west of England, the West Midlands and Wales, though it has recently been discovered a long way away in Scotland. In Yorkshire it is mostly a moth of elm-rich parts of VC62, though it crosses the Vale of Mowbray to some sites north of Ripon, and at one of these, Hackfall Woods, it can be surprisingly common for example 82 trapped there on 9.7.2010. It can sometimes be seen in the daytime. Numbers appear to be fairly stable. It has not been seen in VC61 since Porritt's time.

	Retained Specimen / Photograph will be Required.

Recorded in 28 (14%) of 200 10k Squares. First Recorded in 1858. Last Recorded in 2023. Additional Stats

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