Species Details

ABH: 73.095

BF: 2389

Family: Noctuidae

Subfamily: Xyleninae

Taxon: Caradrina clavipalpis

Authority: (Scopoli, 1763)

Vernacular: Pale Mottled Willow

Account: Common in grassland, farmland and gardens throughout the British Isles. Very variable in size, but easy to recognise by the series of four small dots along the costa of each forewing, the first, at about one quarter distance from the base of the wing, often the least obvious; one of a number of superficially similar, fairly nondescript moths, which are often difficult for beginners, Pale Mottled Willow is relatively common from spring to autumn, while Small Mottled Willow Spodoptera exigua and Dark Mottled Willow S. cilium are both migrants, and differ in the way in which they hold their wings at rest. Larva feeds on seeds of various grasses and cereal crops.

Accounts provided by and used with the kind permission of Mike Wall, Hampshire County Moth Recorder. These will in due course be gradually replaced with species accounts with a Surrey context.

Wingspan: 24 — 32 mm

Surrey Flight Period: 15 Feb (2024) — 28 Dec (2022)

The flight period of overwintering adults are not given. See the flight chart below the distribution map.

Foodplant: Gramineae.

Foodplant accounts are from the HOSTS database — Natural History Museum, London, UK. (CC0).

Status: Least Concern (LC)

UK BAP:

WCA:

Click here to view the full geology map of Surrey.

Verification Grade: 2 — Care needed to identify 🤔
Further Information: https://www.ukmoths.org.uk/species/caradrina-clavipalpis/
Statistics

* Based on adult records only.

Records: 1467

Individuals: 4602

Earliest Year: 1903

Latest Year: 2025

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