Yorkshire Status: Common and fairly widespread resident.

This is a common and widespread moth across all five vice-counties. The larvae feed on various water plants so it prefers damp areas, but it can be seen in a variety of habitats including gardens. Before 2000 this species was mostly univoltine in Yorkshire with a peak in July. Since then there has been a huge increase in numbers fuelled by an earlier first brood in June and a larger second brood in August. This means there are now fewer on the wing in July, a time when the univolitine Lempke's Gold Spot is flying. There is still considerable confusion separating this species from Lempke's Gold Spot. The size and shape of the central silvery spots is notoriously unreliable. A better feature (see Skinner) is the lower apical streak which is more pointed in Gold Spot, but the best feature is to look at the angle of the upper part of the postmedial line as it skirts the lower apical streak. Despite this, there are individuals which cannot be determined with any certainty and these should be dissected. There is no disgrace in not identifying this pair to species level! As a rule, if it looks like Gold Spot it probably is. If it looks like Lempke's, think very carefully. Lempke's tends to be smaller and paler and is commoner on the higher ground. Numbers are healthy and stable in the county. The biggest counts have come from Spurn, for example 77 on 12/8/2009.

Sutton & Beaumont, 1989: Recorded from scattered areas all over the County, but not usually common. How accurately this species and P. putnami (Grote) are being separated is not yet clear. However, Dunn and Parrack (1986) only consider records which have been determined by genitalia to be definite.

Recorded in 170 (85%) of 200 10k Squares.
First Recorded in 1929.
Last Recorded in 2024.
Additional Stats