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

Identification

Usually distinctive.

Recording Method

Readily disturbed by day. Flies at dusk and attracted to light in small numbers.

Life cycle

One generation. Overwinters as a larva on the foodplant.  Larvae July to late May. Pupates in loose earth.

Larval foodplants

Cleavers and other plants including other bedstraws, wormwoods, docks and sorrels.

Habitat

Wide range of lowland habitats including hedgerows, scrub, open woodland, coastal locations and high moorland.

History

First recorded in Dumfries and Galloway for VC72 in 1820 from Raehills, south of Beattock by Little, for VC74 in 1899 near Monreith by Morton and for VC73 near Gatehouse by Russell.