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

See also Moth of the Week (15/10/2019)

Identification

Usually distinctive.

Recording method

Attracted to light, often at a distance from the foodplant.

Life cycle

One generation. Overwinters as an egg on the foodplant. Larvae May to June. Pupates underground., with pupation taking place underground.

Larval foodplants

Broom.

Habitat

Mainly moorland, heathland and open woodland but also hedgerows, scrubby embankments, gardens and dunes.

History

First recorded for Dumfries and Galloway in 1862 for VC73 at Glen Mills by Lennon who stated that it ‘was very rare’, in 1903 for VC74 at Luce Bay by Garraway and in 1946 for VC72 near Dumfries by Cunningham.