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NEWSLETTER No. 9 -  Summer 1983

WEST MIDLANDS BRANCH, BUTTERFLY CONSERVATION

 

Butterfly Round-Up

While in this country we tend to associate butterflies with Summer months, in a mild Winter, such as we have just experienced, it is not unusual to spot the odd butterfly. In fact every month of the 1982/83 Winter produced at least one sighting of a butterfly.

On 20th November a Small Tortoiseshell was seen flying at Bewdley, while a Peacock mage an appearance on Christmas Day in Worcester, no doubt disturbed by the festivities, and found itself reported in the local paper. Nor did we have to wait long for the first sighting of the New Year when on the 2nd January Jean Waldron spotted a Small Tortoiseshell at Arley, Worcs. Small Tortoiseshells again were in the news on 2/3 February when, during a particularly bright spell, two were seen by Tony Hatton in Bishops Cleeve. The first flurry of sightings, however, came on 8th March (about a fortnight earlier than last year), a really Spring-like day, when Bob Sim saw 4 Brimstones near Droitwich and Ron Hatton two just outside Ledbury. The same day in the Wyre Forest I was able to count no fewer than 7 Brimstones plus 3 Commas, and my wife saw 2 Small Tortoiseshells in our Stourport back garden. Ron was able to watch one of his Brimstones disappear back into the Ivy where it probably spent the Winter. The following day Pete Salmon reported the first Peacock of the year near his home in Birmingham.

I have half expected to hear reports of over-wintering Red Admirals, as the weather conditions would appear to have been favourable, but so far no new reports. Bob Sim did manage to keep a Red Admiral alive up until Xmas on a daily ration of sugar solution but could not persuade it to go into hibernation. Clearly, if you want to see Red Admirals in Winter the place to go is Nepal. That much travelled Branch member, Peter Colston, saw Indian Red Admirals there in December, along with Queen of Spain Fritillary and Long-tailed Blues. Peter had gone on a six week trek in the Annapurnas, reaching 16,000 feet and covering 120 miles - the lengths some people will go to to see a few butterflies!

I would like to thank those members who sent in further recording forms subsequent to the publication of our last newsletter. All records have now been sent on to the appropriate Biological Records Centre or County Recorder. Of interest was Phil Parr's report of an unconfirmed Camberwell Beauty at Rugby Wharf on 2nd August feeding from Buddleia, and Dean Warren's discovery of a new site for Green Hairstreak in the far east of Warwickshire, with Bird's Foot Trefoil as the probable foodplant. One of our junior members, Nicholas Penrose, sent in an excellent of records, including two Worcs sightings of Pearl-bordered Fritillary. Also from Worcestershire I received some comprehensive records from the Peplow family which included a couple of sightings of Silver washed Fritillary in woods away from their more usual haunts, and a rare sighting (for the West Midlands) of a Brown Argus near Evesham. It was also nice to see that the new colony of Wood White in the east of the county continues to flourish. An interesting observation was that of several Purple Hairstreaks around hedgerow Oak and Ash.

A number of members keep records of butterflies they see in their gardens. Madge Payne from Balsall Common, Warks, provided me with a very full list, as did Joan Walker from Catherton Common, Salop who has a really marvellous "wild garden", which the Branch intend to visit during the Summer (see list of Field Trips). Dr Houghton, who also lives in Shropshire, wrote to me about 8 acres of land he owns which sounds a splendid place, with Silver-washed Fritillary and occasionally Wood White, amongst the commoner species. Gardens can be marvellous places for butterflies and it is always nice to receive letters from people either asking for advice or detailing personal observations. Butterfly gardening is an important conservation activity and members should look out for the new book on the subject written by Dr. Miriam Rothchild due to be published in May.

Habitat destruction sadly continues and one wonders how many good sites are lost each year that we do not hear about. Bob Sim had reported that extensive felling and damage to rides had occurred at a wood north of Worcester which is one of the best habitats in the country for Wood White. Even worse was the discovery of almost complete destruction of an area of blackthorn which supported one of the few Worcs colonies of Brown Hairstreak.

Two intriguing records from Shropshire await investigation this year: a report of Duke of Burgundy near Ironbridge; and a second site for the Silver-studded Blue. These in addition to the possible site for Marsh Fritillary mentioned in the last newsletter.

At the time of writing the weather remains totally unpredictable with the occasional fine day but many cold and wet. On the few good days the hibernators have been around in good numbers, although the Peacock seems at the moment rather scarce in my corner of Worcs. One quite extraordinary record that has come to hand, however, is a fresh Small Copper seen in Joan Walker's garden at Catherton Common during the first week in April.

Please let me have any butterfly news either by phone or letter, so that we can keep the newsletter as up to date and comprehensive as possible. For the next issue I would particularly like some information on the arrival dates of migrant species like Red Admiral and Painted Lady. If enough records are forthcoming it will be interesting to plot their spread across the region. The Branch are also making a special effort this year to improve on the recording of Hairstreak species (see "Operation Hairstreak") and any records of these would be welcome. 

Mike Williams