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NEWSLETTER No. 12 -  Winter 1984/85

WEST MIDLANDS BRANCH, BUTTERFLY CONSERVATION

 

Out and About

For our "Out & About" feature in this issue we return to France in the company of Phillip O'Connor and David Porter. We start, however, a little closer to home as we journey with Joyce & Ray Butchart to Scotland and with Madge & Bob Payne to Cumbria. Contributions from members for this feature are always welcome.


A HOLIDAY HIGHLIGHT

Our annual Spring holiday has always been in Scotland, and, as the weather forecast for the west was good, we decided to go to the Isle of Skye for a few days, and we stopped at Rannoch Moor, Fort William and so on en route.

It was a warm sunny afternoon and we stopped by a lovely loch where, walking along the roadside, we came across Pearl bordered Fritillaries and Green Hairstreaks, which Ray photographed.

We had walked about a mile, when we stopped alongside a sloping bank covered with bracken fronds. I saw a small butterfly (a greyish blur) shoot across some of these bracken fronds and I called to Ray "whatever is this?". It was very lively and hard to follow but it settled momentarily and spread its wings - great excitement it was a Chequered Skipper! Ray managed to get a distant photograph of it, but it disappeared and we did not see it again that afternoon - it was 5.15 p.m.

We spent the night by the loch in our caravanette. Badly bitten by the midges, we both looked as though we had measles, but this was a small price to pay for the sightings that followed. Returning next day to the same spot proved disappointing as it did not reappear. Ray said he had once seen a habitat shot on a BBC programme about the Chequered Skipper and it certainly looked different to where we were, so we moved on, slowly, for about another mile, and came upon a big area of grassy moorland. Here we saw another two, which were again extremely lively and difficult to photograph, but further on we found three more, freshly emerged. They were beautiful and even "posed for the camera" and allowed us to observe them for a while at our leisure. It was definitely the highlight of our holiday.



BUTTERFLIES OF CUMBRIA

For several reasons Grange over Sands is a good place to stay if one's on a short visit to Cumbria. From the Coventry area it is only a half day's drive away, it overlooks Morecambe Bay which in itself is very interesting, and several nature reserves are within easy reach.

Monday, 16th July on our journey north we stopped at Morecambe for a fish and chip lunch, a long established ritual for us, deciding then that we had plenty of time to spend at Arnside during the afternoon. Armed with the Nature Reserves Handbook we followed the instructions implicitly but still had considerable difficulty finding the way into the reserve we wanted to visit. The part of the reserve open to the public proved to be very small, and we were disappointed when we did eventually pin it down to find that it was primarily a woodland bird reserve, with benches facing the estuary for observing water based birds. Very pleasant but not what we were looking for.

Throwing the Nature Reserves Handbook into the back of the car, we journeyed on, ever upward, until we reached the N.T. car park on top of the hill. What a difference! Within minutes we had seen several High Brown Fritillaries, Common Blues, Small Tortoiseshells, Meadow Browns and Large Whites. There are several benches near the car park from where one can look across Morecambe Bay, and from the same restful spot we could watch High Brown Fritillaries flying casually from flower to flower on the bramble banks drinking deeply from the nectar. With a telephoto lens it was very easy to photograph them hardly having to move at all. That is until a Grayling moved into the area, which refused to let any other butterfly into "his territory". We took this as an omen and made our way quietly to our "home" for the holiday.

Returning four days later, we decided to spend the morning and have a picnic lunch at the same spot before officially closing our holiday. The weather had been almost perfect for our stay in Cumbria and, although all our outings had not been completely successful, we had had an excellent break from work. We had seen Large Heaths which show a "northern difference" from the Shropshire individuals we'd seen earlier in the month. We had climbed to well over 2,000 feet in the Lake District, but owing to the only strip of cloud in the whole of the sky shadowing us we did not see the Small Mountain Ringlet. Now we were hoping to see the Northern Brown Argus on a gloriously hot, sunny morning. No problem to one who had recently scaled the peaks! The only slight problem was keeping one's balance on near vertical (only little exaggeration(?)) scree slopes following the erratic flight of a butterfly, with umpteen pounds worth of photographic equipment to protect. It was very unnerving to hear someone above approaching at a high rate of (Arnside) knotts, and I was not a little surprised to see the curly top of Pete Salmon fast appearing over the brow of the hill. We were able to exchange notes of our various outings before sliding and slipping our separate ways. A happy surprise with which to end a holiday.



TOUR DE FRANCE PART 1

Once again, with a car full to the brim with food, camping and camera equipment we journeyed forth, David and I, leaving Birmingham on 9th July. Rumours of the possibility of a dock strike decided us in favour of making the crossing to Cherbourg that evening, leaving Portsmouth at 10 p.m. and arriving on the French coast some 7 hours later. This early morning arrival in France allowing us to make greater progress into the French countryside.

Our first stop was made shortly after midday and was the investigation of an area of woodland north east of Fougeres. During an all too brief period of sunshine, the woods here provided an abundance of White Admirals, while the Small Skippers on closer inspection proved to be Essex, the black underside of their antennal tips being clearly visible. From this point in France, the day flying moths Agliathan and the Hummingbird Hawk were our constant companions. This our first day in France ended "camping a la ferme" near La Guerche de Bretagre.

On Wednesday 11th we rose early, leaving Bretagre to travel south, arriving at our first real destination by mid-afternoon. With that coincidental good fortune developed to a fine art, David decided to stop at what appeared to be a promising woodland edge. Within moments of leaving the car a Clouded Yellow was seen, this being quickly surpassed by the uncovering of a colony of Large Blues. Other species of interest were soon evident; the more notable being Wood White, Pale Clouded Yellow, Brown Argus, High Brown, Silver washed, Queen of Spain, Marbled and Pearl bordered Fritillaries. In addition to these, several fresh specimens of Duke of Burgundy were sighted producing a sharp contrast to a rather ragged Purple Hairstreak found feeding on bramble. Our evening ended with the discovery that this excellent site for butterflies was part of a campsite, so tents were pitched on "la gros bleu camp".

The following morning we again examined the campsite which was an area of land about the size of a large football ground. All the previous day's sightings were again seen and we were able to add Dark Green and Spotted Fritillary with its sub species f. meridionalis. The Large Blue was easily the most populous species here, there being well in excess of one hundred! With considerable reluctance we left this campsite, travelling some ten kilometres to an area of dense woodland we had visited the previous evening. Along the roadside verge we found White letter Hairstreak and the occasional Large Blue which attests to this butterfly's ability to colonise apparently unlikely environments provided both thyme and ants are present. Here too was the Violet Fritillary, Scarce Swallowtail, and the Large Chequered Skipper, its mode of undulating flight unmistakeable.

By the early afternoon we were travelling towards what on our maps appeared to be a marshland area. Arriving at Vieille Serre we found that our marshlands had been reclaimed and a maze of plantations lay before us. Despite this unfavourable environment and the imminence of a rainstorm, our determination to discover new species led us along one of many pathways between plantations. Along this path were several basking Peacocks and our most likely sighting of a Large Tortoiseshell. A little further along the track, a Lesser Purple Emperor tantalizingly glided before us only to disappear into the heights of a nearby Willow. A sighting of a European Speckled Wood gave little comfort and so we returned to where we had seen A. ilia. Within moments of returning, the attractive orange form of A. ilia, f. clytie, was seen resting on a leaf a little above head height, impervious to our attempts at photographing it. While awaiting a better opportunity, two A. ilias were noticed feeding on the sap of a Sallow tree; for how long they had gone unnoticed, remains a mystery. Two more joined these splendid specimens and we, spoilt for choice, photographed them all while precariously leaning across a stagnant brook, pushing our cameras between branches in order to gain the desired close up. This most successful day was concluded when we eventually stopped in the late evening at a campsite near Les Brousses.

On Friday 13th, without catastrophe, we travelled to a river valley site near St. Cyprier where we walked along a pathside which ran parallel to the river. Here we encountered first a Clouded Yellow, then on a bramble hedge Silver washed, Violet and Lesser Marbled Fritillaries. Large and Adonis Blues were also present, although the Large Blues were not in their earlier profusion. Further along the pathway we were to have our first glimpse of the Map butterfly; we hurriedly followed it, climbing a small fence, to where several more basked on nettle. Cohabiting with the Maps were a small colony of Short tailed Blues, identifiable from the Provencal Short tailed Blue, which we were to see later, by distinctive orange marginal lunules on its underside hind wing. Our evening was to end with a successful chase, our quarry, a Swallowtail, finally resting amongst the grass where it was photographed.

On Saturday 14th we again visited both pathway and field seeing many of the same species. We later travelled on to two sites near Le Cavelieir where we were able to sight several new species. Taking a winding road above the valley a large field near the summit produced Amanda's, Holly and Provencal Short tailed Blue. In addition to these, Pearly Heath and the Dusky Meadow Brown were seen at the field's edge, while Scarce Swallowtails were plentiful, gliding amongst the lavender. Wending our way back towards St. Cyprier, both the Great Sooty Satyr and Greater Banded Grayling were seen along a one hundred yard stretch of road; their ceaseless flying eluding our attempts at photography for nearly an hour.

Sunday 15th arrived with an early morning attempt by persons unknown to break into my tent, mistakenly while still occupied. This incident disrupted our promised Sunday morning lie in and so we left Murat travelling south east via Le Puy to the Col de Megravel. This was a windswept hillside which produced little other than a few Erebias, Violet and Pearl bordered Fritillaries. That evening while pitching our tents, we were both caught in an unexpectedly heavy rainstorm. Our tents, David and myself, all received a thorough soaking this, however, I was assured, is what camping is all about!!

The following morning and a good deal dryer, we again ascended the 4,106 metres to the summit of Col de Megravel in search of elusive Fritillaries and Erebias. By mid afternoon we had moved north of Salesses, several windswept fields providing Clouded Yellows and one specimen of var. helice. Also flying in this turbulent environment were Violet and Pearl bordered Fritillaries and several types of Erebia, including the Almond-eyed and Ottoman Brassy Ringlet. Almost unable to fly in these forceful winds, the magnificent Purple-edged Copper was easily observed, a captive on its grass perch. A little further along the road, what at first appeared to be a Mazarine Blue on closer inspection was seen to be the Osiris Blue, its violet blue hue and smaller underside discal cells distinguishing it from C. semiargus. With the evening now becoming cooler, we descended some 2,000 metres revisiting a camp site of our previous visit at Balsieges.......

to be concluded