Mythimna pallens
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
Mythimna pallens, the common wainscot, is a moth of the family Noctuidae distributed throughout the Palearctic realm from Ireland in the west, through Europe (all of Russia) to Central Asia and Amur to the Kuriles in the east. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae.
As with other "wainscots", this species has buffish-yellow forewings with prominent venation. The common wainscot, as the specific name suggests, is very pale, lacking the darker markings shown by most of its relatives. The hindwings are pure white.
The wingspan is 32–40 mm. Forewing yellowish ochreous, often with a rufous tinge; veins pale, defined by grey-brown streaks, and with similar streaks in the intervals; dark spots on veins 2 and 5 beyond middle; hindwing white, grey at centre, the veins dark; — ab. ectypa Hbn. Is the form in which the red tints are strongest; in arcuata Stph. the hindwing shows a complete row of dark dots on the veins. See also Hacker et al.
Mythimna impura is difficult to certainly distinguish from its congeners. See Townsend et al. Mythimna straminea (Treitschke, 1825) Mythimna... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wadden Sea National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 2 | London | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 3 | Birmingham | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 4 | Berlin | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 5 | Prague | 🇨🇿 Czechia |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Common Wainscot sighting in Birmingham on a given day, based on 12 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 451st most-seen of the 811 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August and September
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Common Wainscot in Birmingham on a given day, against under 5% in October to July, the lowest months.
Between 6 and 9 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Common Wainscot sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 5
Of the 5 cities where we can rate Common Wainscot sightings, Birmingham ranks 3rd at under 5%. The best odds are in Liverpool (United Kingdom, about 10%) and London (United Kingdom, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Common Wainscot is recorded against all the insects logged in Birmingham (12 verified sightings), 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.
