Hantsmoths

A rare Red Data Book species, almost entirely restricted to large areas of well-established oak forest, formerly in southern England from Cornwall to Kent, now only common in the New Forest, west Sussex and the Kentish Weald. In Hampshire and on the Isle of Wight still quite common in New Forest oak woodland, and still present in woods near Wickham and in Havant Thicket, but it has disappeared from other localities where it was fairly common up until the 1950s. Unrecorded on the Isle of Wight since the turn of the 20th Century, until one was reported in 2021. Wingspan 34-40 mm. Unmistakable. Larva feeds on Pedunculate Oak and Sessile Oak, over-wintering as a pupa.