B&F: 2092

ABH: 73.325

Status:  Resident. 

Distribution and Abundance:  Common.

Primary Habitat:  General occurrence.

Flight Period:  On the wing in any month from April into October but usually more commonly in August.

Observations:  Over the years the moth seems to be consistently variable in abundance and flight period. A comparison between an 80 watt m.v. light trap operating in a Wellingborough garden for three consecutive years some fifty years ago and a 125 watt m.v. light trap running in a Northampton garden over the past three years shows this variability. In this sample, by coincidence the average numbers are about the same, but on average the Northampton moths are recorded eleven days earlier suggesting that they are now emerging earlier in the year, possibly due to current climatic conditions. The flight period ends at about the same time in the autumn.
Wellingborough:
1951, 1 June to 29 September - 153
1952, 13 May to 30 August - 57
1953, 21 May to 7 September - 25.
Northampton:
1999, 15 May to 16 September - 115
2000, 6 May to 16 September - 64
2001, 13 May to 1 September - 68.  

L.O.N.:  1904. Weedon. 

First Record:  1843, Whitwell.