Butterfly Diary
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field notes by Adrian Hoskins
note :
earliest
sightings of each brood are in bold type
2012
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
July
Thursday 26th July
Despite
blazing sunshine butterflies were quite scarce yesterday and
today when I visited Bernwood Forest in Oxfordshire, and
various woodlands in the Rockingham Forest complex east of
Kettering in Northamptonshire. The commonest butterflies in both
areas were beyond doubt Large Skippers and Ringlets, while
Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers were seen only in relatively low
numbers. I found a few Marbled Whites at Waterperry Wood and
Shabbington Wood but none further north. It was a pleasure
however to discover that Silver-washed Fritillaries are
continuing to improve their foothold at both Bernwood and
Fermyn Wood, which each produced sightings of 6 or 7 males.
White Admirals were also found in similar numbers at both
woods. The photographic target for myself and everyone else
this week was of course the magnificent Purple Emperor. Most
people were lucky and saw 3 or 4 males, either flying around
the tops of tall oaks, or imbibing dissolved minerals from
moisture on the forest tracks.
Purple
Emperor
Apatura iris ©
Adrian Hoskins
Tuesday 24th July
A really hot
sunny day with temperatures reaching 28°C brought an
interesting record of a pair of 2nd brood Dingy Skippers
at Deep Dene in East Sussex. Across the county border in West
Sussex the 2nd brood of the dainty Wood White is just
emerging at Fisherlane Wood and the mid-summer generation of
Small Coppers is now building numbers nicely at
Cissbury Ring, one of my favourite Sussex sites. Dorset
sightings reported today included a mating pair of
White-letter Hairstreaks at Alner's Gorse, and Lulworth
Skippers at Durlston Country Park.
Monday 23rd July
After 3
miserable months of rainy
weather in the UK we are finally
getting some long awaited sunny days! Hopefully these will last long
enough to allow the summer
butterflies to lay plenty of eggs and produce reasonable
populations next year. Reports from across the country today
included Marbled Whites and Chalkhill Blues seen in good
numbers at
Magdalen Hill
Down and Chalton Down in
Hants,
Swyncombe Downs in
Oxfordshire,
Yoesden Bank
in Buckinghamshire, and Mill Hill in Sussex. Also from Sussex
came a report of a Silver-spotted Skipper at Beachy Head and a Clouded Yellow at Lewes although it
is unclear whether the latter was a migrant or a locally
emerged insect. I have not received any reports yet of Scotch
Argus, but these should be starting to emerge now at their
sites in Cumbria, Yorkshire and western Scotland.
Sunday 22nd July
A Large
Tortoiseshell was seen at Holmsley gravel pit in the New
Forest today. It is possible that this specimen may have flown
across the Solent from the Isle of Wight - recent records
indicate that the Large Tortoiseshell is re-establishing
itself there as a breeding species.
Sunday 15th July
Today we
visited Fermyn Wood in Northamptonshire. The weather was dry
but mostly overcast, the ground was very waterlogged, and
conditions seemed more suitable for swimming than for watching
butterflies. During the first couple of hours we saw well over
100 Ringlets, but very little else. Later, brief breaks in the
cloud cover eventually persuaded a few other species to
appear, but all were in very low numbers - 1 Small White, 12
Large Skippers, 2 Small Skippers, 2 Red Admirals, 8 Meadow
Browns and a glimpse of a distant White Admiral. The species
we had come hoping to see however was of course the elusive Purple Emperor, and we were not disappointed. A 2 minute burst
of weak sunshine was enough to bring a male down from the
trees. It flew over my head and landed on the path 100m ahead, but sadly didn't stay long enough for any of us to
get a photo. We were luckier however with this Purple
Hairstreak, which sat obligingly on a bramble leaf for several
minutes:
Purple
Hairstreak
Quercusia quercus, Fermyn wood, Northants ©
Adrian Hoskins
Saturday 14th July
Reports are
coming in from Hants, Sussex, Dorset and Bucks of the first
Gatekeepers,
Chalkhill Blues,
Essex Skippers and summer Peacocks and
Brimstones, but the atrocious weather
that we've
experienced over the last 3 months shows little sign of improving. Most
butterfly species are having their worst season for several
years. The inevitable consequence is that populations of some
species could take 2 or 3 years to recover from the nadir,
and local extinctions will certainly occur at marginal sites.
Gatekeeper
Pyronia tithonus male, Stansted Forest, Sussex ©
Adrian Hoskins
Thursday 4th July
Emily and
myself have just returned home after treating ourselves
to a mid-week break at Arnside in Cumbria. We spent Tuesday
morning at Arnside Knott, where despite damp and overcast weather
there were well over 40 Dark Green Fritillaries flying
in the lower meadows. Most were recently emerged males. There
were also several Common Blues, Small Heaths and Large
Skippers, and a few
worn individuals of Northern Brown Argus. In the
afternoon we moved uphill to explore the woodland clearings
and scree slopes where we found masses of freshly emerged
Graylings - well in excess of 150, including 2 mating
pairs. Our target species High Brown Fritillary was
only just beginning to emerge but we were lucky to find a male
nectaring at thistles,
and later found another at roost on bracken. Prolonged
overnight rain and continued drizzle on Wednesday morning
failed to deter us from making a return visit and during a
brief dry spell a few butterflies appeared, including 3
Small Tortoiseshells, a Small Skipper, several worn Small Pearl-bordered
Fritillaries and a very old and battered Pearl-bordered Fritillary. Shortly afterwards the sky blackened,
rumbles of thunder echoed across the hills, and rain began to
fall again, sending the Graylings up to shelter in the trees,
and the Fritillaries diving into the herbage. We took it as a
signal to head for the pub and enjoy a good meal, before
catching a train home to Leicester.
High Brown
Fritillary Argynnis adippe
Arnside Knott, Cumbria ©
Adrian Hoskins
Dark Green
Fritillary Argynnis aglaia
female, Arnside Knott, Cumbria ©
Adrian Hoskins
Grayling
Hipparchia semele Arnside Knott,
Cumbria ©
Adrian Hoskins
Sunday 1st July
I spent a
fruitless hour in cool overcast conditions at Monks Wood this
morning searching for Black Hairstreaks, but only found a few
Large Skippers and Ringlets, a Speckled Wood and 2 or 3 Meadow
Browns. In the afternoon I headed north to Thorne Moors in
Yorkshire. When I arrived at 3pm there was a brief sunny spell
but by the time I'd reached the open moorland it had become
dull and very windy, and the only butterflies to be seen were
a few roosting Large Skippers. Two hours later there was
another very brief sunny spell but still no sign of my target
species, but then I suddenly spotted a Large Heath
nectaring on a tall marsh thistle. A gust of wind instantly
grabbed it and swept it out across the boggy quagmire where
the ground is too dangerous to walk. During the next two hours
I saw another dozen Large Heaths - mostly just brief glimpses
of them being swept rapidly across the moor by the strong
winds. Eventually however I struck lucky and spotted a male
sitting on an orchid at the side of a path, and snapped the
image below.
Large Heath
Coenonympha tullia Humberhead Peatlands NNR, Yorkshire ©
Adrian Hoskins
Ringlet
Aphantopus hyperantus Monks Wood,
Northants ©
Adrian Hoskins
Large Skipper
Ochlodes venata male, Monks Wood,
Northants ©
Adrian Hoskins
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