The Silver Y (Autographa gamma) is a migratory noctuid moth named for the distinctive silvery Y-shaped mark on each forewing, with a wingspan of 30–45 mm and wings patterned in shades of grey and brown. It is one of the most impressive migrants in Europe; in exceptional years an estimated 220 million individuals have been recorded entering the UK in spring, flying northward from Mediterranean overwintering areas as far as Iceland and Finland. Adults are active by day as well as at night, hovering to nectar at lavender, buddleia, and other garden flowers; larvae feed on a polyphagous range of over 200 low-growing plant species. The species is a garden-habitat regular throughout Europe and North Africa, reliably appearing wherever nectar-rich flowering plants are present in summer and autumn.

Nectar plants · 3

Widespread across Europe, North Africa, and the Palearctic from western Europe to Japan. A highly migratory species: resident year-round only in the southern Mediterranean; each spring large waves move northward, reaching Iceland, Greenland, and northern Scandinavia in good years. A reverse southward migration occurs in autumn. Cannot overwinter as early stages in northern Europe, so northern populations are maintained entirely by annual immigration.