Yorkshire Status: Rare and very local resident.

This is one of Yorkshire's most important moths. It is a species of limestone grassland, the larvae feeding on glaucous sedge and possibly blue moor-grass. Its current range in the country seems to be limited to the west of VC64 and a small area of south Cumbria and north Lancashire in limestone grassland. It used to be present in coastal areas of Northumberland and Durham but these colonies have virtually died out. Porritt's 1883 list describes the first county record - "Mr EPP Butterfield took a specimen at Grssington on the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union's Visit there, August 7th 1882, and this apears to be the only known occurrence of the species in the county." It still occurs in the Grassington area along with other sites in upper Wharfedale and also in the Ingleborough area. It is usually seen flying by day but it does come to light. On some occasions it can be seen in good numbers, for example 100 seen assembling to females on ragwort at Grass Wood on 16/7/1994. It is difficult to know how well it is doing in the county as we receive so few records.

Sutton & Beaumont, 1989: This species is very local in Britain, only being found in a few localities in northern England from Yorkshire north to Northumberland. One of its best known sites is Grass Wood near Grassington (VC64) where it has long been established, the most recent record from this site was in 1980 (SMJ). There are unconfirmed records from two other sites in the County, these would be of great interest if confirmation could be made.

	Retained Specimen / Photograph will be Required.

Recorded in 5 (3%) of 200 10k Squares. First Recorded in 1882. Last Recorded in 2023. Additional Stats

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