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

Identification

Usually distinctive.

Recording Method.

Attracted to light.

Life cycle

Two generations. Larvae June/July and August/September. Overwinters as a pupa in a cocoon in a folded leaf.

Larval foodplants

Downy Birch and Silver Birch.

Habitat

Woodland, gardens, scrub and heathland.

History

Somerville (1858) recorded larvae on birch from the Moffat area (VC72) just prior to early September 1858. W. Douglas Robinson (1870-71) had found one in a copse wood in June on Almorness (VC73).

Sir Arthur Duncan (1909-84) during his lifetime had found it at Closeburn, Gilchristland and Lochar (all VC72).

During 1976-92 twenty-one records were recorded from four of the Rothamsted stations.

From 1992 to 2010 there were thirty-two records from widely scattered sites across the region.