Hantsmoths

A rare Red Data Book species, this species is a well established but localised resident in the Cambridgeshire fens and at a coastal marsh in south east Kent. Also a rare but regular continental immigrant to the south east and central south of England with, for example, ten records from eight sites in Essex since 1985, at Landguard in Suffolk in 1996 and in Norfolk. In Hampshire there have been two records of this attractive moth, both of which were considered migrants: the first in a Rothamsted trap in the New Forest in 1985, and the second not until twenty years later, at Lovedean; an intriguing record from the Fleet Pond area in 2023 might hint at the possibility of a resident population, although migration cannot be ruled out. The first for the Isle of Wight was at Totland in June 2017. Wingspan 25-27 mm. Unmistakable. Larva feeds on Purple Moor-grass and Smooth Meadow-grass, over-wintering as a pupa.

VC10 Isle of Wight

VC11 South Hampshire

VC12 North Hampshire