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

The Norfolk snout moth has reappeared close to where it was first discovered in 1853. Photograph: James Lowen

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

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