Yorkshire Status: Fairly common resident.

The Atlas tells us that across the country, numbers of this species have "decreased severely since 1970". It is difficult to reconcile this with what we see in Yorkshire as numbers appear to be stable and it is reported widely across the county. The early flight time means that many recorders will not see it often, but if you do trap in February, you will find it is one of the commonest moths in the trap. Once noticeable change since 2000 is the appearance of this species before the year end, often starting in late November. Melanic forms are still frequent. The wingless female is not often encountered but is apparently found regularly near the base of tree trunks just after dawn. In wooded areas counts can be quite large, for example 114 at Bellflask near Ripon on 6/2/2011.

Sutton & Beaumont, 1989: Rather sparsely recorded due to its early flight period (January-March) but said to be frequently taken at light, at rest on tree trunks and as larvae (SMJ) in all five vice-counties. The melanic form, f. monochraria (Staudinger), is often most frequent in urban areas.

Recorded in 136 (68%) of 200 10k Squares.
First Recorded in 1847.
Last Recorded in 2024.
Additional Stats