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

See also Moth of the Week (10/11/2019)

Identification

Usually distinctive.

Recording Method

Attracted to light.

Life cycle

One generation. Larvae April to June. Overwinters as an egg which hatches in April. Pupates among plant debris or under bark.

Larval foodplants

Larvae feed on a range of broadleaved trees, including Oaks, Elms, Birches, hawthorns, Blackthorn and Sallows.

Habitat

Woodland, scrub, hedgerows and gardens.

History

Lennon (1863) had found it to be not common, but had seen it at Castledykes (VC72). W. Douglas Robinson (1870-71) had found the larvae on two small poplars in August. R. S. Gordon (1913) had found it was common at light at Corsemalzie (VC74) with ten on 8th December 1910. Earliest date was 30th October 1910.

Many records are from the Rothamsted stations that used to operate in each VC, with a few records from daytime observations and a few from traps operated on the warmer winter nights.