Identification

Unmistakable, with two curved dark cross-lines on the forewing and a bold, dark central dot between them, on whitish or greyish or brownish wings.

Recording method

Males bask on bare ground or rocks and are easily disturbed by day, comes to light in small numbers.

Life cycle

One generation. Overwinters as a small larva, during July to May. It forms a cocoon on the foodplant or among plant debris.

Larval foodplants

Heathers.

Habitat

Bogs, heathland, moorland and raised mosses.

History

First recorded for Dumfries and Galloway in 1881 for VC73 on the Cairnsmore of Fleet by Lennon ‘resting next to a granite rock, which nearly went unnoticed due to its similarity to it’, in 1897 for VC74 at Corsemalzie by Gordon who had found it ‘frequent on all moors in Wigtownshire’; ‘larvae were also common on heather’, but not until 2003 for VC72 at Corserig Hill by Richard Mearns.