Yorkshire Status: Fairly common resident.

Porritt described this attractive moth as "not a common species" in 1883. It seems to have spread a little further across the county since then. It is not uncommon in small numbers in gardens due to its habit of feeding on garden privet, lilac and winter jasmine, but the biggest counts have come from woodland with none of these plants present (eg ten trapped at Ellington Banks on 21/5/2010 and at Fordon Chalk Banks on 15/5/2022) so it is likely that other trees are used such as ash or birch. Numbers in the county are healthy and it is quite widespread in lowland areas but absent from many upland areas in the west. Occasionally moths turn up in late summer and even into autumn; one was seen and photographed at Pateley Bridge on 5/10/2019. It is worth checking these late ones in case you are missing second generation Small Waved Umber! Our Yorkshire records are at the northern edge of the range, and there is recent evidence of some range extension with three records in 2023 at upper Teesdale.

Sutton & Beaumont, 1989: There are scattered records from all five vice-counties for this species and it is generally frequent or common.

Recorded in 112 (56%) of 200 10k Squares. First Recorded in 1883. Last Recorded in 2023. Additional Stats

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