A moth species long thought to be extinct in England has made a dramatic return, rediscovered at local conservation charity Kent Wildlife Trust’s Lydden Temple Ewell Reserve near Dover after a 73-year absence.

Periclepsis cinctana, once known as the ‘Dover Tortrix’ and more recently renamed the ‘Tiree Twist’, was last recorded in England in 1952. Believed to survive only on the remote Scottish island of Tiree, its rediscovery has stunned the UK conservation community.

The breakthrough came when Rebecca Levey, an ecologist with Butterfly Conservation, was surveying the site with volunteers searching for Straw Belle caterpillars. Spotting the small chalky-white moth with distinctive orangey-brown markings, she immediately recognised its significance and contacted Dave Shenton, Kent Wildlife Trust’s Local Wildlife Sites Officer and Kent County Moth Recorder.