Description: Wingspan 30-34mm. Adults are variable in colour. Most are greyish brown with a pale central band but some are dark brown with pale antemedian and postmedian lines. There is no apical streak on the forewing. From the beginning of May to late June.

World Distribution: Across Europe to eastern Siberia.

Irish Distribution: Widely distributed and commonly encountered on sites around the Lough Neagh area of north Armagh, parts of east Down and more recently Crom Estate, Eshywulligan, Garvary and Legatillida, Fermanagh. It has also been recorded from Rathlin Island, Antrim during the late 1980s. The moth is probably more widespread than records indicate, especially in the west where its foodplant occurs commonly.

Ecology: A variable species with different colour forms. The moth is normally associated with areas where its foodplant, Common Alder Alnus glutinosa, grows. Adults appear at light in small numbers. The larvae can be found from August to October. It overwinters as a pupa.

Key Identification Features:

• Lacks apical streak
• Pale central band

Distribution Map from NBN: Hydriomena impluviata at National Biodiversity Network mapping facility, data for UK.

iNaturalist: Hydriomena impluviata at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.