Eulithis populata
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
Eulithis populata, the northern spinach, is a moth of the genus Eulithis in the family Geometridae. The species name populata derives from the Latin word populus, meaning poplar, as a food plant for the caterpillar. Eulithis populata is a Holarctic species found in North America, Europe, the Caucasus, Transcaucasia, the Urals, Siberia, Russian Far East, and North Mongolia. These moths usually inhabits blueberry and mixed forests, peat moorland, wetlands and grassland. The altitude distribution reaches up to 2500 meters in the Alps and up to 2300 meters in the Pyrenees.
The wingspan is 25–32 mm. The ground colour of the forewings is yellow (varying in ground colour from a straw yellow to orange-brown or dark brown). There is a brown central band and a brown basal patch. There is a W shaped projection on the cross band.
Adult caterpillars are extraordinarily variable in colour and have a whitish, yellowish, greenish, brownish, blackish or reddish colour. They are most likely to be recognized by the dark dorsal line located on the front segments, also the dark wedge spots on the posterior segments as well as the distinct... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hohe Tauern National Park | 🇦🇹 Austria | |
| 2 | Cairngorms National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 3 | Snowdonia National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 4 | Mercantour National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 5 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 6 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Helsinki | 🇫🇮 Finland |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Northern Spinach sighting in Cairngorms National Park on a given day, based on 35 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 50th most-seen of the 300 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Northern Spinach in Cairngorms National Park on a given day, against under 5% in September to June, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Northern Spinach sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Northern Spinach sightings, Cairngorms National Park ranks 2nd at about 20%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Hohe Tauern National Park (Austria, about 20%).
Same genus: Eulithis
The closest relatives of the Northern Spinach that you can see in Cairngorms National Park (genus Eulithis) are Barred Straw (about 10%) and Chevron Moth (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Northern Spinach is recorded against all the insects logged in Cairngorms National Park (35 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.
