Identification
The small size, pale grey forewing with wavy black outer edge of cross-band is diagnostic.
Recording Method
Attracted to light.
Life cycle
One generation. Overwinters as an egg on its various foodplants. Larvae are present April to June, with pupation taking place in leaf litter in a cocoon.
Larval foodplants
Mainly birches, Hawthorn and Blackthorn.
Habitat
Open woodland, hedgerows, heathland and moorland.
History
First recorded by Archibald G. B. Russell (1944) who during the war had to spend 1942 and 1943 living near Gatehouse-of-Fleet without a car, so his mothing was confined to a couple miles distant. From these surrounds he produced the first list of moths for Kirkcudbrightshire, but none of the species had dates against them.
There were two records in the mid 1970s, singles from Springfield, Gretna with the other from Raeburn Flow.
It has been recorded twice from Durisdeer, 1991 and 2002, the former was a larva that was bred on that turned out to be a female. Another occurred in 2003 on Lowther Hill, with further records from Raeburn Flow in September, 2007.