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 NEWSLETTER No 2 - Winter 1979/80

WEST MIDLANDS BRANCH, BUTTERFLY CONSERVATION

Book Reviews

"The Lepidoptera of Warwickshire: Part 1 - Butterflies 1900-1977".
Published by Warwickshire Museum, September 1979.
Price £1, plus 25p post and packing.

The publication of Roger Smith and David Brown's provisional list of Warwickshire's butterflies is the first attempt to provide a record of species since the Victoria County history of 1904, and the Survey has two main objectives.

1. The achievement of a thorough and up-to-date coverage of the county's moths and butterflies for the Insect Atlas of the British Isles, and for the Warwickshire Biological Record Centre.

2. To relate the taxonomic and the ecological data to practical conservation work within the county. 

The survey records the varying fate of no less than 39 species of butterfly in Warwickshire since 1900, and another 8 are listed as vagrants and migrants. Amongst the former, a number are now lost to the County. For example, the last Purple Emperor was seen in Ryton Wood, near Coventry, in 1943 - Oxfordshire now being its nearest location to the West Midlands. About the same time, that very attractive little butterfly, the Duke of Burgundy Fritillary also disappeared. Sadly, in recent years Warwickshire has lost its colonies of the Fritillaries - the Marsh Fritillary in the early 50's; the Silver-washed by 1960; and the two Pearl-bordered  Fritillaries before 1970. The reasons behind the disappearances of these butterflies are often complex, but David Brown and Roger Smith suggest that the destruction of habitat is the prime cause. For instance, the colony of Marsh Fritillaries at Sutton Park near Birmingham apparently disappeared after drainage, and subsequent grazing by cattle, while Waverly Wood, a notable location for the larger fritillaries, was extensively cleared and replanted in the sixties, with dire consequences for its insect life.

Broadleaved woodlands and heathland are increasingly becoming features of the past, and recent records highlight that it is to old quarries and disused railway cuttings that the butterfly enthusiast now turns. It is in this kind of habitat that the survey points to a number of species that have extended their range within the County, colonising new sites. These species include the Marbled White, the Small Blue and the Green Hairstreak. Most exciting of all, however, was the arrival in 1975, of the Wood White as a breeding species, now apparently to be found in five locations. Woods still remain important, of course, for many species, and it is pleasing to note the continuing presence of  that fine woodland butterfly, the White Admiral, if only within a fairly confined area. The Purple Hairstreak also seems to be commoner than records prior to 1960 had indicated.

This happy state of affairs is unfortunately not reflected in two other members of the Hairstreak family, the Brown and White-letter, both of whose status seems very uncertain. The Brown Hairstreak, always an elusive butterfly, has never been common in Warwickshire, and there has been no definite sighting since 1971. The White-letter Hairstreak, considerably better established than the Brown, has been decimated by the spread of Dutch Elm disease to its foodplant.

Such as a list of the County's lepidoptera can only be as comprehensive as the available records, and it is up to all those who keep field notes of butterflies seen during the year to forward them to the Warwickshire Biological Records Centre, c/o County Museum, Market Place, Warwick. Inevitably certain areas of the County have been under-reported, and members particularly those living in the north and south, can play their part in setting this to rights. Not only the rarer and more unusual sightings are necessary; as will be seen from the survey, it is probably the more common species that are most seriously under-recorded. By publishing a provisional list at this stage it is hoped that the vital work of filling in obvious gaps may be hastened, and a greater understanding of the factors governing the disappearance or increase of butterflies within the County may be reached. Roger Smith and David Brown have made a valuable contribution to butterfly conservation and it is now up to all of us who are interested to follow their lead.

"Hamlyn Guide to Butterflies".
Paul Whalley, published by Hamlyn
Price £1.95.

Useful pocket guide which fills an obvious gap in the Hamlyn Nature Guide series. Good standard of photographs and very reasonably priced. Attempts to cover too wide a number of species (some European, as well as British) and therefore lacks detail in some respects.