Moth of the Moment – Dusky-lemon Sallow

My eighth anniversary of garden mothing and an oddity turned up in our Cambridgeshire garden last night. A moth new for the garden (NFG), although that’s not particularly odd, I get a few dozen NFGs every year. But, this one, Dusky-lemon Sallow (Cirrhia gilvago) is reported in Manley’s British Moths and Butterflies as being on the wing from August to October species. Dusky-lemon Sallow camouflaged quite nicely on an old pitted log Now, it’s only just over a week or so until August, but other sources refer to this particular species as mainly being an autumnal, September-October, species. Occasional reports of late August appearance. UKMoths cites 9 records in July, 37 in August, and a few into November, and even 2 in December. But, well over a thousand in September and October. Cirrhia gilvago (Dusky-lemon Sallow) is a fairly distinctive autumn noctuid that is widespread but local across much of England and Wales, becoming scarcer further north. In East Anglia it is a regular, if not…