Identification

Unmistakable, with plain wings and coffee-coloured fringes.

Recording Method.

Attracted to light.

Life cycle

Overwinters as an egg. Larvae present during April to late June, feeding inside the stems, with pupation in leaf litter on the ground.

Larval foodplants

Common Reed.

Habitat

Reedbeds, but can wander into gardens.

History

The Fen Wainscot was first discovered in Scotland on 2nd August 2003 at Auchencairn (VC73), and has been trapped during the following years (2004-10) at the same site adjacent to the bay.

Also, during 2010-13, it was trapped on the the other side of Auchencairn Bay, at Old Torr on numerous separate occasions from late July to mid-August, confirming the foothold this species has established in Kirkcudbrightshire.
Since then it has moved westwards to the Barlocco area when two were trapped on 2nd August 2019.

The nearest site to the above was in north Lancashire.

One of the reddish forms ab. rufescens Tutt was caught on the Torr peninsula on 26th July 2011.