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

Identification

Usually distinctive.

Recording method

Attracted to light.

Life cycle

Overwinters as a small larva on a stem or twig of the foodplant. Larvae July to June. Pupates in leaf litter.

Larval foodplants

Birches, Hazel and Alder.

Habitat

Woodland, scrubby heathland, grassland, hedgerows and gardens.

History

First recorded for Dumfries and Galloway in 1860 for VC72 near Dumfries by Lennon, in 1874 for VC73 in the Castle Douglas area by Robinson-Douglas and in 1897 for VC74 at Corsemalzie by Gordon who had found it ‘scarce along woodsides at dusk’.