Yorkshire Status: Local resident.

Porritt described this species as "generally common" in 1883 and again in 1907. I think we would describe it as more local nowadays, as much of its rough grassland habitat has unfortunately been "improved" since then. We tend to get about 100 records a year, and numbers seem to be stable, though distribution across the county is patchy. Counts at some sites can be quite large for example 50 at Austerfield on 30/7/2020. Do not confuse this species with the unrelated Brown-line Bright-eye. Occasionally we are sent records of Bright-line Bright-eye or Brown-line Brown-eye which confuses us somewhat.

Sutton & Beaumont, 1989: Rather thinly distributed except in the south of VC63 and now recorded from all five vice-counties. Grassland on steep slopes is a feature of many of this species' sites in the north and east of the County.

Recorded in 124 (62%) of 200 10k Squares.
First Recorded in 1883.
Last Recorded in 2024.
Additional Stats