Yorkshire Status: Local resident.

The first British record of this species is documented in The Entolologist's Annual 1853 p32 under "New British Species since 1835" as follows - "The insect taken by my friend Mr Thomas H. Allis and supposed to be Apamea unanimis [ie Small Clouded Brindle] is Orthosia congener of Boisduval ... It has subsquently been repeatedly taken in the north of England and in Scotland in July and August and is now in most collections". In 1883 Porritt described it as "rather common, in some localities abundant" and "some seasons it abounds in the Bradford district and can perhaps be taken more plentifully there than anywhere".

Since then, it has not done particularly well in the county, though 2021 was a bumper year with 50 records, and nationally has been lost from many of its old haunts. It is very much a local moth of birch woodland and tends to be uncommon in gardens. The biggest counts have mostly been from Potteric Carr, the maximum being 50 on 4/7/2011, though it is usually seen in much smaller numbers.

Sutton & Beaumont, 1989: Locally common among birch but not recorded from VC65, although there seems to be no reason why it should not be present. Until recently this species was classified with the Cucullinae but it has now been moved in to the Amphipyrinae and the Dingy Shears, which it quite closely resembles, put into the same genus.

Recorded in 86 (43%) of 200 10k Squares. First Recorded in 1847. Last Recorded in 2023. Additional Stats

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