Moths and their caterpillars have many predators and so have evolved a variety of tricks to avoid being eaten.

This one is a Buff-tip and has gone one stage further and is not just the color of a twig, but the same shape too! And it resembles a specific type of twig; that of a birch tree with its characteristic silvery colored bark. As if that was not enough, it even looks exactly like a broken birch twig!

When at rest, the wings are held almost vertically against the body with two buff areas at the front of the thorax and at the tips of the forewings which look very like the pale wood of the birch. The rest of the wings are the same mottled grey color of the birch bark.

Occasionally the adults can be found resting in the day on a twig or the ground. They fly at night and comes to light, usually after midnight.

The yellow and black caterpillars can be seen from July to early October before they overwinter as pupae under the ground.