Yorkshire Status: Local resident.

This species is commonest in coastal areas but also occurs in smaller numbers in some inland locations. This must always have been the case as in 1883 Porritt described it as "abundant on the sandhills all along the coast, and occurs in inland locations as follows: ..." - and he lists several inland sites. Numbers have been gradually declining for many years, and we now usually receive just 40 to 60 records per year, despite the amount of moth trapping having increased substantially. In some locations however it still seems to be common, for example an astonishing 500 at Wintringham on 18/7/2022, and most of our records now seem to come from the east of VC62 and the north of VC61. Numbers at Spurn have reduced, and it is now unusual there to get counts into double figures. 2024 was a particularly bad year, with very few reported. The Atlas tells us that abundance and distribution have declined substantially in recent years, and this is most marked at inland sites. This is an extremely variable species, and some authorities consider it to be a mixture of several species. No doubt DNA bar-coding will shed more light on the situation.

Sutton & Beaumont, 1989: Very local in Yorkshire and often associated with sandy soils.

Recorded in 82 (41%) of 200 10k Squares. First Recorded in 1857. Last Recorded in 2024. Additional Stats

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