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

Identification

Usually distinctive.

Recording Method

Attracted to light.

Life cycle

One generation. Overwinters as a larva.  Larvae September to May. Pupates in loose earth.

Larval foodplants

Herbaceous plants including Wild Marjoram, Wood Sage, Yarrow, Mugwort and stonecrops.

Habitat

Mainly coastal, especially rocky shores and coastal grassland.

History

First recorded in Dumfries and Galloway for VC74 near Monreith, Port William in 1899 by Morton by who took ‘one dark specimen’ in July.  The first record for VC73  was not until 1974 from Gatehouse of Fleet in the Rothamsted moth trap.  Since then the majority of records are from coastal sites in Kirkcudbrightshire.