Butterfly Diary
- field notes by Adrian Hoskins
my earliest
sightings of each brood are highlighted in bold type
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Sightings
policy - details of certain sites where visitor pressure
or trampling may pose a threat to butterflies or alienate
landowners are excluded from these pages.
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2010
Jan
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Feb
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Mar
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Apr
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May
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Jun
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Jly
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Aug
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Sep
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Oct
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Nov
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Dec
March
Sunday 28th March
Yesterday I
visited a site in east Dorset to search for Marsh Fritillary
larvae and had a couple of surprises. The site is normally
grazed by cattle specifically for the benefit of Marsh
Fritillaries, but the cattle had gone and had been replaced by
sheep. These were the strangest sheep I'd ever met - instead of
being timid and scampering off at my approach, they stood on the
opposite hillside for a minute or two baaing at me, and then the
whole flock came charging straight at me at full gallop. I
thought for a moment that they were actually going to attack me,
but when they got within about 10 feet they suddenly eased off,
and strolled right up to say hello. I was even able to stroke
one of them on the head ! They then spent the next 5 minutes
following me around as I searched for larvae, and I felt a bit
like "Mary and her little lamb" ! Very odd. The second surprise
of the day was to find that the Marsh Fritillary larvae were
already in their 5th instar, and mostly solitary, although I did
find a few groups of between 3-6 smaller larvae huddled together. After
the cold winter I had expected their development to be retarded,
but they are in a quite advanced state of development, so it
seems likely that the adults will emerge "on time" in early May.
Larvae numbers here and at other sites are much higher than they
have been in the last 3-4 years, so it could be a bumper year
for this lovely butterfly.
It is worth
mentioning here an interesting report by James Giles, manager of
Thursley Common NNR in Surrey, just published on the website of
the Sussex branch of Butterfly Conservation. It refers to a
group of about 12 Red Admirals that were observed flying out of
a rabbit burrow on 18th March, possibly responding to the smoke
or heat from a nearby fire. Until recently records of Red
Admirals hibernating in this country were extremely rare, but
during the very mild winters of 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 they
were a common sight in Stansted Forest ( report
here ), where they roosted
openly on the trunks of larch trees. This winter, despite very
harsh conditions they have clearly been able to survive by
adopting a different strategy, hibernating below ground where
they are protected from the worst effects of the weather.
The website of
the Upper Thames branch of Butterfly Conservation today reported
a sighting of Speckled Wood from Cholsey, Oxfordshire.
This is I believe the first confirmed 2010 sighting of this
species ( discounting records of individuals that probably
emerged in greenhouses etc ).
larvae of Marsh Fritillary,
Euphydryas aurinia, nr
Dorchester, Dorset
Friday 26th March
Spring is
finally getting under way - primroses, violets, coltsfoot,
dandelions and sallow catkins are now flowering; ponds and
ditches are full of toad spawn; and despite torrential rain
yesterday there were a few Brimstones and Peacocks on the wing
when I visited Stansted Forest this morning.
Peacock,
Inachis io
Stansted Forest, West Sussex
Grey Shoulder-knot moth,
Lithophane ornitopus
Stansted Forest, West Sussex
Wednesday 24th March
A report
appeared today on the website of the Upper Thames branch of
Butterfly Conservation, of a Holly Blue, seen in
Bracknell, Berkshire, the first record of this species for 2010.
Sunday 21st March
Brimstones,
Commas, Small Tortoiseshells and Red Admirals all now all being
reported on a daily basis here in southern England, although my
only personal sighting this weekend was of a male Comma which
has set up territory in my garden.
A wide variety
of moths have also been reported this week, including the first
2010 records of Pale Pinion, Lead-coloured Drab, Clouded Drab,
Common Quaker, Small Quaker, Twin-spotted Quaker, Shoulder
Stripe, Early Grey, Hebrew Character, Yellow Horned, Engrailed and Oak
Nycteoline, but so far there have been no reports of Orange
Underwings.
Sunday 14th March
Today I visited
Bentley Wood in Wiltshire, where I saw my first butterfly of
2010 - a male Brimstone seen flying in a small glade. Half an
hour later, along a track in another part of the wood I spotted
another Brimstone, and a very weather-beaten Red Admiral. Just
before I left the site I took a quick look along a minor track
and was very pleased to find the pretty green pupa of a Speckled
Wood, attached to a leaf of pendulous sedge. On the way home I
stopped for half an hour at Crab Wood in Hampshire and was able
to see my fourth species of the day - a Comma, basking among
leaf litter.
Reports today
of Small Tortoiseshells seen in Hampshire, Dorset, Sussex,
Surrey, Oxfordshire and Berkshire indicate that ( as per my 26th
Feb predictions ) the butterflies survived the winter in good
numbers. There have also been a few reports of Red Admirals,
although it is unclear whether these are migrants or
post-hibernation survivors. Brimstones, Commas and Peacocks have
also been reported in low numbers from across southern England
this weekend.
pupa of Speckled Wood
Pararge aegeria,
Bentley Wood, Wiltshire
Brimstone
Gonepteryx rhamni,
Bentley Wood, Wiltshire
Saturday 6th March
A Painted
Lady, presumably an inbound migrant, was recorded at
Bolderwood in the New Forest, Hampshire yesterday. Today
singletons of Small Tortoiseshell were reported from Berkshire
and Oxfordshire.
Tuesday 2nd March
The website of
the Hampshire branch of Butterfly Conservation today reported a
Red Admiral seen in Portsmouth, and 3 records of Brimstones,
seen at Alresford, Swanmore and Staunton Country Park
respectively. Small Tortoiseshells were reported from 3 sites on
the Sussex coast; and the first Comma of the year was
reported from Frieth in Buckinghamshire.
Monday 1st March
There were 3
reports of Red Admiral singletons seen in various parts of
Hampshire today, also a Small Tortoiseshell and a
Peacock, both seen at Winchester. Further east, in Sussex, no
less than 3 Peacocks were reported from different sites, in
addition to 2 Red Admirals and a single Brimstone. Another
Brimstone, a female, was also recorded at Henley-on-Thames in
Oxfordshire.
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