Identification

Male is distinctive, female is flightless, so please record the sex.

Recording method

Adult females can be found on tree trunks in the early morning, males come to light.

Life cycle

One generation. Overwinters as an egg on the foodplant. Larvae are present from April to the middle of June.

Larval foodplants

Hawthorns, Pedunculate Oak, birches, limes, Blackthorn, English Elm, sallows and Hornbeam.

Habitat

Mature woodland with broadleaved trees.

History

First recorded for Dumfries and Galloway in 1862 in Mabie Forest by Lennon, in 1910 for VC74 at Corsemalzie by Gordon who found it to be ‘not uncommon at light, along woodsides at dusk and at rest on hedges’, and in 1951 for VC72 at Tynron by Duncan.