Agrotis exclamationis
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
The heart and dart (Agrotis exclamationis) is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. A familiar moth to many, it is considered one of the most common of the European region. It occurs throughout the Palearctic realm from Ireland to Japan.
This is a quite variable species with forewings ranging from pale to dark brown but always recognizable by the distinctively shaped dark stigmata which give it its common name. The wingspan is 35–44 mm. The hindwings are whitish (compared with other common Agrotis species, the hindwings of this species are usually paler than in heart and club but darker than in turnip moth). This species usually has a dark area at the front of the thorax, visible as a horizontal bar when viewing the moth head on. The differences are not consistent however; they are highly variable in both colour and markings, and identification of atypical or worn examples may prove impossible without examination of genitalia. See Townsend et al.
This moth flies at night from May to July[1] and is attracted to light, sometimes in large numbers. It also frequently visits nectar-rich flowers such as Buddleia, ragwort and red valerian. The larva The caterpillars are coloured grey-brown, paler ventrally and have a pale dorsal line and clearly recognizable black point warts.
The pupa is bright red. On the cremaster sit two short curved thorns.Larvae feed on a variety of plants, both wild and cultivated (see list below). This is one of the notorious cutworms and often severs or fatally damages plants at the base. The species overwinters as a full-grown larva in a chamber in the soil before pupating in the spring.
^The flight season refers to the British Isles. This may vary in other parts of the range. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Snowdonia National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 2 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 3 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 4 | Wadden Sea National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 5 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 6 | Sierra de Guadarrama National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 2 | London | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 3 | Manchester | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 4 | Kharkiv | 🇺🇦 Ukraine | |
| 5 | Birmingham | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 6 | Budapest | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 7 | Berlin | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 8 | Essen | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 9 | Vienna | 🇦🇹 Austria | |
| 10 | Kyiv | 🇺🇦 Ukraine |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Heart And Dart sighting in Bavarian Forest National Park on a given day, based on 37 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 114th most-seen of the 1115 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June and July
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Heart And Dart in Bavarian Forest National Park on a given day, against under 5% in September to April, the lowest months.
Between 10 pm and 1 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Heart And Dart sightings with a recorded time, and about half of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
Among the best
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Heart And Dart sightings, Bavarian Forest National Park ranks 3rd at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Snowdonia National Park (United Kingdom, about 10%) and Cévennes National Park (France, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Heart And Dart is recorded against all the insects logged in Bavarian Forest National Park (37 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
