B&F: 2081

ABH: 73.313

Status: Resident.

Distribution and Abundance: Scarce

Primary Habitat: Gardens.

Flight Period: Single brooded in July and August.

Localities: Pitsford Water and Helpston.

Observations: Singletons of this species were taken on 14 July and
21 August 2003 in the Pitsford Water light traps. Apart from this the only modern records for the moth are from an actinic light trap run in a garden in Helpston where the moth was taken in small numbers between 1983 and 1989; the last record that I hold from this site is 25 July 1989. Following Wallis’s records in the earlier years of the last century the moth was not seen until 11 August 1936 when one was taken feeding at phlox in Kettering. It continued to be recorded in the town and other localities in the north of the county until the late 1940’s. It was fairly common at m.v. light at Wellingborough in the 1950’s and was also regarded as very common at Castor Hanglands up to the 1950’s, but has not been seen since. The loss of the species from the Hanglands probably dates the major decline of the moth in the county.

L.O.N.: 1907. Kettering, Wadenhoe, Northampton. Not very common.

First Record: 1888, Wallis