Yorkshire Status: Fairly common and fairly widespread resident.

This extremely variable species was "Not very common" according to Porritt in 1883, though he was able to list several sites where it occurred. This was probably the case until the 1970s but since then records have increased and it is doing well in Yorkshire. It is a moth of grassland on light soils and is widespread across low-lying parts of the county. It is uncommon in the north-west. It seems to be commonest in coastal areas particularly at Spurn where almost half of our records come from. Counts into double figures are mostly from Spurn, however the record count of 100 was from coastal dunes at South Gare on 10/8/2022. Due to the large number of forms and variations, it can confuse the unwary, but most moths show a straight line bisecting the forewing into a darker basal half and lighter outer half.

Sutton & Beaumont, 1989: Widespread, but only recorded commonly at one locality in South Yorkshire. It was suggested in the last list (YNU, 1970) that this was primarily a coastal species. There does not appear to be any evidence to support that view.

Recorded in 130 (65%) of 200 10k Squares. First Recorded in 1880. Last Recorded in 2023. Additional Stats

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