Hantsmoths

Scarce on vegetated shingle and in salt-marshes along parts of the coast of southern England. In Hampshire historically a local but not infrequently recorded species of the Hampshire coast, from Hurst Castle in the west, to Hayling Island in the east, but went unrecorded from the Isle of Wight since the mid 1970s. However 2022 saw an unprecedented influx, presumably from the continent, across the south and east of the country, which resulted in 85 reports (compared to 100 previous in total) across the whole of our area between 12th August and the last on 23rd September, which brought multiple new 10km square records and included the first records for North Hampshire.

Wingspan 11-15 mm. Most likely to be confused with S. atriplicella, but more contrastingly marked with angulate fascia at about three-quarters (MBGBI Vol 4 part 2), while S. instabilella generally appears darker and S. nitentella greyer than S. ocellatella. Larva mines leaves of Sea Beet.