B&F: 2118

ABH: 73.338

Status: Vagrant or Accidental.

Distribution and Abundance: Rare.

Primary Habitat: General occurrence.

Flight Period: Recorded in June and July.

Records: 10 July 1982 Lings Wood (D. Brown), 9 July 2005 Storefield Wood (J. Ward) and 25 June 1993 Fineshade (Rothamsted Insect Survey).

Observations: This is the most common noctuid moth of heather clad heathland in the British Isles. That it is so rare with no known colonies in the county draws attention to Northamptonshire’s woeful shortage of this type of habitat. The most likely current site, Harlestone Heath, has been worked without success. The moth used to occur at Castor Hanglands and was described as, “Not rare up to 1939. Not taken since.” by R. E. M. Pilcher in his “Lepidoptera of Castor Hanglands and Ailsworth Heath.” Presumably the species was a casualty of the heathland clearance by the Ministry of Defence when the area was used as a bombing range in the Second World War.

L.O.N.: Unrecorded.

First Record: 1888, Morley.