B&F: 2155

ABH: 73.270

Status: Resident.

Distribution and Abundance: Scarce/Declining.

Primary Habitat: Gardens.

Flight Period: Single brooded in June and July.

Observations: Recently much declined. Peak numbers since 2000 were seen around 2012 to 2015, but have apparently dwindled since then. Old records from a garden m.v. light trap run in Wellingborough in the 1950’s show very high numbers of moths taken in most years culminating in 483 in 1955. This degree of abundance does not seem to be encountered anywhere nowadays, for instance the Pitsford Water static light traps for the years 2000 to 2009 show an annual average of thirteen moths. The variably coloured caterpillar could once often be encountered feeding on gardens plants in the autumn.

L.O.N.: 1907. Many localities. Often abundant at flowers of lime.

First Record: 1882, Hull & Tomalin.