Red List: Least Concern (LC). GB Status: Common.

Identification

Usually distinctive. Care required, potential confusion with Grey Birch.

Recording method

Attracted to light.

Life cycle

One generation. Overwinters as a larva. Larvae late August to June. Pupates among the foodplant.

Larval foodplants

Beard lichens and possibly other lichens.

Habitat

Mature broadleaved and coniferous woodland, and scrub.

History

First recorded for Dumfries and Galloway in 1858 for VC72 near Moffat by Somerville who found it ‘on lichens on birch during August’, in 1942 for VC73 at Gatehouse of Fleet by Russell, and as recently as 1971 for VC74 at Mochrum by Radford.