Yorkshire Status: Very common and widespread resident.

Porritt found Rustic to be commoner than Uncertain in the county. The reverse is certainly true now and Uncertain is very common and widespread across all of the county in good numbers eg 351 at High Batts NR on 9.7.2011. Whilst fresh well marked examples of Rustic and Uncertain are usually fairly easy to tell apart when seen together, there is still much confusion at times and worn specimens can be difficult to separate. The differences are as follows:

General appearance - Uncertain is has a rough texture whilst Rustic is smoother and glossy.
Ground colour - Uncertain is ochreous/yellow-brown whilst Rustic is greyer-brown and colder in tone.
Cross lines - Uncertain has well-defined contrasting cross lines especially the medial band. Rustic has more indistinct bands on a plainer wing.
Reniform stigma (kidney mark) - darker than the ground colour in Uncertain but similar to the ground colour in Rustic.
Flight time - Uncertain tends to emerge about two weeks before Rustic.

A combination of features should always be used to identify these two species. There will always be some specimens which you cannot identify to species level, especially late in the season. Bear in mind the other confusion species, Vine's Rustic and Mottled Rustic. If you are in any doubt (or "uncertain"!), please log as the aggregate species.

Sutton & Beaumont, 1989: Previously probably under-recorded due to confusion with H. blanda (Denis & Schifferrmuller), this species is now known to be the commoner of the two in most areas (though in Durham the reverse seems to be the case (Dunn & Parrack, 1986).

Recorded in 164 (82%) of 200 10k Squares. First Recorded in 1883. Last Recorded in 2023. Additional Stats

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