Rare moth found in Norfolk village 50 years after becoming ‘extinct’ in Britain

Enthusiasts discovered Norfolk snout, thought to have died out in the UK in 1971, in their garden

The Norfolk snout was always a rare moth in Britain. By the late 1960s, populations of this small beige moth with a distinctive protuberant “nose” had dwindled to just one site – a working quarry in north-west Norfolk.

Bad weather or possibly over-collecting by a few zealots meant that the moth, which has a 20mm wingspan, became extinct in Britain in 1971.