B&F: 2047

ABH: 72.046

Status: Resident.

Distribution and Abundance: Common.

Primary Habitat: Woodland.

Flight Period: Single brooded in July and August.

Observations: The species appears to be much more common than formerly. Although present in the Peterborough area in the 1950’s it does not feature in earlier m.v. light trap returns from other parts of the county and the 1945 record below is the sole entry on early Kettering lists. It seems to have spread in the 1960’s and 1970’s until by the 1980’s it had become much more widespread and currently can occur in good numbers, as at Pitsford Reservoir where in the five years to 2003 the annual numbers recorded have increased as follows:- 1999 - 34, 2000 - 40, 2001 - 66, 2002 - 89 and 2003 - 122.

Confusion Species: Common Footman

First Record: 1945, Gretton, Wallis.

B&F: 2048

ABH: 72.046

Status: Unknown.

Record: 1882 Northampton (W. Hull & H. Tomalin).

Observations: This record appears on a systematic classification of the lepidoptera which have occurred in the vicinity of Northampton. J. Northampt. nat. Hist. Soc. p.170 by Hull, W. & Tomalin, H. F., 1882-84 under the old name Leaden Footman (Lithosia molybdeola). Now classified as a form of

L.O.N.: Unrecorded.

First Record: 1882, Hull & Tomalin.