Yorkshire Status: Very rare migrant/wanderer.

In The Entomologist February 1842, Robert Cook documented " a list of Lepidoptera captured near York" ("within five or six miles round the city of York"). This included Light Brocade. The record is documented in Porritt's list of 1883 along with a record from Bramham, but in 1904 he writes "one of five species that had better be regarded as recorded in error until confirmed by further undoubted specimens". There are some other poorly documented records from the 1950s and 60s from Bradford and Sheffield, but the first definite records are from Doncaster in 1973 and Rossington in 1980. Since then it has been an elusive species, with very occasional records on the east side of the county. In 2023 there was an unprecedented influx from the south in late May and early June which brought records to Austerfield, Low Moor (Bradford) and Broughton Hall, all in VC63

This is a moth of heathland and unimproved grassland, preferring calcareous soils. It is resident 100 kilometres to our south-east and the distribution is fairly stable. It is not prone to migrate or wander far, but our records must have been wandering moths, and the 2023 moths arrived with winds from the south-east, so it is not likely to be resident within our borders.


Sutton & Beaumont, 1989: The Sheffield records quoted in the last list (YNU, 1970) were not quite accurate in that the first specimen was taken in Totley, which is in VC57. However, the second was a valid Yorkshire record (Garland, 1979). There is also one recent confirmed record, VC63, Rossington near Doncaster, 4.6.1980 (RIH).

Recorded in 9 (5%) of 200 10k Squares. First Recorded in 1950. Last Recorded in 2023. Additional Stats

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