Yorkshire Status: Common and widespread resident.

Porritt only knew this species from York. Back in the 19th century it was evidently very scarce in the north of England. Like several other Footman species it retreated south and since the 1980s has been rapidly moving north, the first records coming from Spurn in 1984 followed by Bishop Wood in 1988. Many more sites were colonised inthe 1990s and it is now found all over the county. It has moved as far north as the Western Isles at a rather impressive rate. In the fairly early stage of colonisation, numbers were spectacular at some sites, for exampleta 1310 trapped on 13/8/2009 at Newtondale in VC62. Like all Footmen, this is a lichen feeder, favouring broad-leaved trees in well-established woodland. The bright yellow form mentioned below in Sutton and Beaumont is f. unicolor which is not uncommon. This form can easily be mistaken for the earlier-flying Orange Footman. A little known identification feature is that the males have a "crease" in the base of the wing extending about a third of the distance along the wing.

Sutton & Beaumont, 1989: The first County records since Porritt (1883-86) occurred at Spurn (VC61) in 1984 and a second locality has been found in 1988. Porritt has York as the only locality but he says that the specimens were much larger than those in the South and the female was bright yellow. He comments on this as a distinct variety and possibly a different species. No mention of a form matching this description is made by Skinner (1984) or de Worms (MBGBI 9). It seems strange that such an observation should pass without comment.

Recorded in 147 (74%) of 200 10k Squares. First Recorded in 1883. Last Recorded in 2023. Additional Stats

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