B&F: 1931

ABH: 70.252

Status: Resident.

Distribution and Abundance: Common.

Primary Habitat: General occurrence.

Flight Period: Single brooded from May to July.

Observations: The melanic form carbonaria and the intermediate form insularia appear to have spread into Northamptonshire around 1890 with the melanic eventually replacing the typical as the dominant form. Wellingborough light trap records from the 1950’s clearly show this dominance with the representative season of 1955 producing the following results:-
Total Peppered Moth records 84.
Type - 11, f. carbonaria - 66, f. insularia - 7, (79 males and 5 females, all females carbonaria). These figures contrast sharply with the 2001 Pitsford Water results of:- Total recorded 41,
Type - 35, f. carbonaria - 5, f. insularia - 1, showing a 72% swing back to the typical form. The increase in the typical form has been generally noticed in the county.

L.O.N.: 1907. Many localities. Rather common.

First Record: 1842, Clark.