Yorkshire Status: Local resident.

The situation has certainly changed from when Porritt described this species as "in great abundance in the south West Riding" in 1904 and "occurs everywhere there are woods" in 1907. It has been lost from many of its old haunts, and the Atlas describes it as "a much declined moth of woodland, scrub, heaths and moors", maps showing that it is no longer present in many parts of central and south-east England. In Yorkshire it most commonly seen on the fringes of the uplands where it can be locally common in broad-leaved woodland bordering on moorland, the maximum count being 32 at Brimham Rocks on 7/9/2016. Numbers seem to have been stable in the last few years. It has not been seen in VC61 since 1960.

Sutton & Beaumont, 1989: Local in mature broad-leaved woodland with no VC61 records since the 1960s. Described as 'often common' in the previous list (YNU, 1970), this species would seem to have declined. Most widely recorded in the woodlands of the North York Moors' valleys, the only other recent records are from the Harrogate district and Wharfedale in VC64 and the Huddersfield area and the south of VC63.

Recorded in 73 (37%) of 200 10k Squares.
First Recorded in 1857.
Last Recorded in 2023.
Additional Stats