Species Account

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Distribution

Summary Data

Season (Adult / Immature):

National Status: RDB3

Local Status: Very rare and very local resident.

Local Record: Grade 4 See here for explanation

Flight time: Jun-Jul.

Forewing: 28-31mm.

Foodplant: Oak.

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	Region
Year first recorded	1978	1978
Year last recorded	2010	2010
Number of records	2	4
Number of individuals	2	4
Unique positions	2	4
Unique locations	2	4
Adult records	2	4
Immature records	0	0

For the region, we have a total of 4 records from 4 sites. Earliest record on file is in 1978.

Photos

Species Account

For further information refer UK Moths.

Davey, P., 2009: A rare species that has declined since the 1950s in southern England, still headquartered in the New Forest, with small colonies elsewhere in Hampshire, Wiltshire and Sussex, the larva feeding nocturnally, firstly on the flowers and buds, and then on the foliage of oak (Quercus spp.). In Dorset, the moth was noted from two old oak woodland localities in the nineteenth century. More recently, the 1978 and 1982 records occurred in similar weather situations with sluggish airflows circulating around nearby low-pressure centres. These were likely to have been dispersed examples either from southern England or from northern France. It is very doubtful that the species is still resident given the destruction of so much old oak woodland, but targeted sugaring is recommended for this species in Boys Wood, Rye Hill Wood and Castle Hill Wood. The moth may occasionally be observed flying over the oak canopy during the afternoon on hot days: Middlemarsh, wings found on 13 July 1886 (J Dale), Cranborne, occasionally (Reverend F Fisher), Arne Wood, at MV on 4 August 1978 (B Pickess), Highcliffe, at MV on 4 August 1982, plus two subsequently (E Wild).

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