Species Account

Select species and region:

Distribution

Summary Data

Season (Adult / Immature):

National Status: Common

Local Status: Fairly common and widespread resident.

Local Record: Grade 1 See here for explanation

Flight time: One generation, Jul-Aug.

Forewing: 14-16mm.

Foodplant: Grasses.

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	VC8	VC11	Region
Year first recorded	1976	1995	1986	1976
Year last recorded	2011	1995	2011	2011
Number of records	600	1	27	1256
Number of individuals	1197	1	28	2452
Unique positions	125	1	9	270
Unique locations	103	1	8	224
Adult records	507	1	26	1068
Immature records	0	0	0	0

For the region, we have a total of 1256 records from 224 sites. Earliest record on file is in 1976.

Photos

Species Account

For further information refer UK Moths.

Davey, P., 2009: A species restricted to south-east Britain, the larva feeding on the flowers and seeds of common couch (Elytrigia repens) and cock's-foot (Dactylis glomerata). In Dorset, the moth seems to be increasing in unimproved grassland habitat generally following lean times more than fifty years ago. It is locally common along the coast and locally abundant on chalky soils inland. In such places, it is a highly visible species during the day as it rests on the flower heads of knapweed (Centaurea spp.) or field scabious (Knautia arvensis). There are more than forty light trap records across the Poole Basin on sandy soil, and dispersal is suspected for many of them.

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