Hantsmoths

A widespread species from Africa across Asia to the Pacific: historically a rare immigrant to Europe, numbers are increasing, perhaps in part due to human transportation with the brassica crops it feeds on (for which it can be a commercially important pest species). The first record is presumed to have arrived on these shores as an immigrant on the basis of a specimen taken at a light-trap near East Prawle, Devon, on 28 September 1967, but there were no further records until 1988 since when it has been almost annual with an unprecedented 70+ individuals reported nationally in 2011: the majority have been in south-west England. In our area it is far rarer: the first (and so far only) record for the Isle of Wight came in 1989, with the first for VC11 in Hurn (Dorset) in October 2001, another on the VC11/12 boundary at Crawley in Oct 2006, a (very late) third in December 2015: 2023 saw a significant influx nationally, with a further two recorded in the county.

VC10 Isle of Wight

VC11 South Hampshire

VC12 North Hampshire