Yorkshire Status: Local resident.

There are many species of moth which occurred in the county in the 19th century, retreated south, and then came back recently. Red-necked Footman is yet another example. Porritt listed Guisborough, Scarborough, Sheffield and York as sites for this moth, but there were no 20th Century records. In the early 2000s, it began to move northwards from its strongholds in the south of England and Wales. Moths spread up the west coast as far as Scotland then colonised Northumberland and Durham, coupled with spread northwards from the Midlands and easterly spread from Lancashire. Yorkshire seemed to be one of the last places to be colonised, and the assault came from three different directions. Our first record might have been north of Settle in 2004 but this could not be verified, but from 2009 it began to appear in scattered locations all across the country. Numbers built up steadily until 2015 but since then it has apparently become less common. It is likely that its parasitoids have caught up with it. Before this happened, counts in some areas were rather large, the maximum being 120 at Wykeham Forest on 10/7/15. In recent years, counts have been less than 20. Like all Footmen, this is a lichen feeder, in this case favouring lichens on conifers, and the biggest counts have tended to be from conifer plantations.

Recorded in 70 (35%) of 200 10k Squares. First Recorded in 1857. Last Recorded in 2023. Additional Stats

Exit Recorder