Key to Text Moths of Northamptonshire

Key to Map
  Grey Shoulder-knot Lithophane ornitopus  
         
  Status:  Resident. 

Distribution and Abundance:  Fairly common. 

Primary Habitat:  Woodland.

Flight Period:  Single brooded from September to April.

Observations:  Until recently this moth was always uncommon in the county usually with long intervals between records; the last of these being for some thirty years between the mid 1950’s and the mid 1980’s. Since then it has greatly increased in abundance and is now regularly seen both before and after hibernation. My own field records show that I first recorded the species in the county in 1989 and that apart from two years I have seen it annually in small numbers ever since. 

L.O.N.:  1906. Near Kettering. Scarce. At treacle. 

First Record:  1906, Wallis.