Identification

Unmistakable.

Recording Method.

Attracted to light. Flies by day when disturbed.

Life cycle

One generation. Overwinters as a pupa in a cocoon underground. Larvae are present from July to September.

Larval foodplants

Larvae feeds on various sedges and grasses.

Habitat

Fens and marshes; also wet heathland and moorland.

History

Lennon (1860) had stated that he had found this species around Dumfries while out walking this season. By 1863, Lennon had found that it was not common, but had noted it at Tinwald Downs. R. S. Gordon (1913) mentions only one record of one captured flying at dusk alongside Kennel Wood, Corsemalzie in early June, 1904.

Sir Arthur Duncan (1909-84) during his lifetime had found it at Lochar Moss and Castlehill, Dumfries (VC72), while his friend David Cunningham had found it on Tinwald Downs during July, 1951.

During 1976-78 there were a dozen records from five of the Rothamsted stations, Waterside Mains and Mabie Forest not recording it. In the early 1980s it was regularly recorded from the Hensol Estate.

From 1993 to 2010 very few of the thirty records were caught in gardens. Most were from widely scattered sites across the western side of the region, with only two in Dumfriesshire.