Distribution and Abundance: Very common.

Primary Habitat: Grassland.

Flight Period: Single brooded in July and August.

Observations: A comparison between an m.v. light trap running in a Northampton garden in 2001 and a light trap run in a Wellingborough garden in 1951 show quite similar results, although generally the moths seem to end their flight period rather earlier nowadays. Viz:- Northampton, 12 July 2001 to 28 August 2001 - 285 moths. Wellingborough, 15 July 1951 to 10 September 1951 - 247 moths. This species has only recently been split from its close congener the Lesser Common Rustic (M. didyma) from which it is only reliably separable by genitalia examination. In the comparison above both sets of figures include the Lesser Common Rustic, those from Wellingborough as they are historical and those from Northampton as no attempt was made to separate the two species. Moths where the identification is uncertain should be aggregated within the two species and recorded as Common Rustic agg. My feeling is that Common Rustic (M. secalis) is the more common species in Northamptonshire so records received termed as aggregated between the two species have been included under Common Rustic on this site.

L.O.N.: 1907. Everywhere. Very common.

First Record: 1888, Morley.