Yorkshire Status: Uncommon but fairly widespread resident.

Garden Tiger has been in a slow and steady decline for several years. This may well be exacerbated by climatic change resulting in warmer and wetter winters which are not liked by the over-wintering immature larvae. This is probably an over-simplification however, and there are likely to be many other factors involved. The population has evidently fluctuated for some time. In 1883 Porritt noted it to be "abundant all over the county" but by 1907 commented "formerly abundant everywhere but now becoming comparatively rare in some parts of the south-west". Numbers are still low at the moment but even so, we still receive about 200 records per year. Occasionally there are localised population explosions, for example In July 2003, unprecedented numbers occurred at Spurn with 1683 attracted to light on 18/7/2003. The following day 950 were reported by day "on garage walls and floor and side of pilot's tower attracted to lamps". Ten years later in 2013, huge numbers were seen for several days at Bellflask, north of Ripon, with 140 trapped on 14/7/2013. Two traps, three and four miles away caught a maximum of three. Quite how to explain this is rather difficult. Since 2000, there have been just two counts which have scraped into double figures, and 95% of records have been of just one or two moths. Conversely, in this time we received an increase of records of the "woolly bear" larvae.

Sutton & Beaumont, 1989: Records are scattered over all five vice-counties and it is often reported as frequent to common where it does occur. However it does seem less common than formerly in some areas and being so conspicuous, it is strange that it should not be recorded more evenly if it is as common as was often said.

Recorded in 143 (72%) of 200 10k Squares. First Recorded in 1886. Last Recorded in 2023. Additional Stats

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