Mythimna pallens
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
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 |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Common Wainscot sighting in London on a given day, based on 133 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 297th most-seen of the 1504 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Common Wainscot in London on a given day, against under 5% in October to April, 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.
Among the best
Of the 5 cities where we can rate Common Wainscot sightings, London ranks 2nd at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Liverpool (United Kingdom, about 10%).
Same genus: Mythimna
The closest relatives of the Common Wainscot that you can see in London (genus Mythimna) are The White-Point (about 10%), L-Album Wainscot (about 10%) and The Clay (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Common Wainscot is recorded against all the insects logged in London (133 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.
