Campaea margaritaria
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
Campaea margaritata, commonly known as the light emerald, is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1767 12th edition of Systema Naturae. It is widely distributed throughout Europe, the Near East and North Africa. The habitat is mixed forests including parks and large gardens.
Newly emerged adults have delicately pale green wings marked with green and white fascia, two on the slightly crenulate forewing, one on the hindwing. As with most moths of this colour, the green colouration is fugitive fading over time and older specimens tend to be almost pure white. The wingspan is 42–54 mm, the female generally being considerably larger than the male. The egg is smooth, long oval, but laid with the micropyle at the top; light grey, dark-dotted, later pink with the dots deep red. The larva is grey, brown or brownish-green, commonly with whitish dots, the segment-incisions well marked.
One or two broods are produced each year and adults can be seen at any time between July and September [1]. The larva feeds on a variety of deciduous trees, including apple, beech, birch, elm, hawthorn, hazel and oak as well... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Snowdonia National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 2 | Cairngorms National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 3 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 4 | Aigüestortes National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 5 | Mercantour National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 6 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 7 | Wadden Sea National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 8 | Triglav National Park | 🇸🇮 Slovenia | |
| 9 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 10 | Sierra de Guadarrama National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 2 | London | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 3 | Birmingham | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 4 | Manchester | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 5 | Essen | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 6 | Hamburg | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 7 | Berlin | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 8 | Cologne | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 9 | Prague | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 10 | Copenhagen | 🇩🇰 Denmark |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Light Emerald sighting in Sierra de Guadarrama National Park on a given day, based on 5 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 528th most-seen of the 597 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August and September
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Light Emerald in Sierra de Guadarrama National Park on a given day, against under 5% in October to July, the lowest months. Those are among Sierra de Guadarrama National Park's driest months, with about 35 mm of rain a month against 110 mm in November.
Between 10 pm and 1 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Light Emerald sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is seen both by day and at night.
10th of 10
Of the 10 parks where we can rate Light Emerald sightings, Sierra de Guadarrama National Park ranks 10th at under 5%. The best odds are in Snowdonia National Park (United Kingdom, about 20%), Cairngorms National Park (United Kingdom, about 10%) and Bavarian Forest National Park (Germany, about 10%).
Same family: Geometridae
The closest relatives of the Light Emerald that you can see in Sierra de Guadarrama National Park (family Geometridae, Geometer Moths) are Yellow Shell Moth (about 10%), Heliothea discoidaria (about 10%) and Chimney-Sweeper (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Light Emerald is recorded against all the insects logged in Sierra de Guadarrama National Park (5 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.
