Yorkshire Status: Rare and local resident.

Small White Wave is not a common species. Nearly all of our records come from the east of VC62 and it often seen flying at dusk in small numbers, though it does also come to light. Strange things however can happen in the world of mothing, and on 27/5/2023, an amazing 20 were attracted to light at Moreby Far Wood in the west of VC61, with healthy numbers also in 2024. This is a patch of ancient and previously untrapped woodland, so just the sort of place it likes. Sutton and Beaumont below were incorrect in that there were no VC65 records. Porritt mentioned it from the Richmond area and it was recorded in Swaledale in 1961. In fact it must have been a lot more common in Porritt's day as he called it "well distributed and moderately common". Perhaps there was more ancient woodland around in those days. We quite often get records for this species and many are incorrect, being misidentifications of other Waves. This is not a species you are likely to get in your garden.

Sutton & Beaumont, 1989: This moth is quite conspicuous but usually flies in the hour before dusk and so is not often taken at light (Skinner, 1984). There is no VC65 record for this mainly woodland species, although it is recorded from Langdon Beck, VC66, just to the north-west of the High Force in Upper Teesdale (Dunn & Parrack, 1986).

Recorded in 41 (21%) of 200 10k Squares.
First Recorded in 1857.
Last Recorded in 2024.
Additional Stats