Species Account

Select species and region:

Distribution

Summary Data

Season (Adult / Immature):

National Status: Common

Local Status: Scarce and restricted resident.

Local Record: Grade 2 See here for explanation

Flight time: One generation, May-Jun.

Forewing: 13-16mm.

Foodplant: Downy and Silver Birch, Alder.

IMPORTANT - Please note that the maps and accounts are provisional, subject to change and further update. The whole dataset still needs to go through the final verification process and it is likely that a very small number of records will not satisfy the present requirements and there are other records that have not been formally submitted. The information is for guidance only.

Record breakdown:

	VC9	VC11	Region
Year first recorded	1960	1973	1960
Year last recorded	2011	2011	2011
Number of records	231	64	590
Number of individuals	445	81	1052
Unique positions	52	11	126
Unique locations	46	10	112
Adult records	227	62	578
Immature records	0	0	0

For the region, we have a total of 590 records from 112 sites. Earliest record on file is in 1960.

Photos

Species Account

For further information refer UK Moths.

Davey, P., 2009: A species found widely across much of England and Wales, but more local in Scotland, the larva feeding on birch (Betula spp.) and occasionally alder (Alnus spp.). In Dorset, the moth is local, at low density, and, with one exception, associated with mature birch woodland. The exception is Powerstock Common where the dominant tree is alder, and probably hosts the insect. The moth is roughly twice as numerous as the Brindled White-spot¹⁹⁵⁰, a species that it is often seen with at light traps.

See background to species accounts. Index of Vernacular names - Search - Random Species